


Common Ground

by GardenOfArden



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: 30-Somethings, Awkward Conversations, Community Engagement, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Impossible Standards, Including the Tropes!, Insufferable Protagonist, My First AO3 Post, Post-Canon, Slightly-Changed references to real-world stuff!, Subverting the Tropes!, adult dorks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:47:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 41,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GardenOfArden/pseuds/GardenOfArden
Summary: Nora had an established life in the city but desperately needed a change. She was sick of her heartless job, her unsatisfying side hustle; sick of feeling isolated, feeling frustrated, like she was going nowhere. By pure chance, she finds a lifeline and the possibility of a new life in an impossible place, but there's a lot more to small town living than she could have predicted.
Comments: 20
Kudos: 20





	1. Indemnity Factor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is the first fanfic I've written since (checks calendar) 2003. (For posterity, that was a Harry Potter fic - before the book series was even done being written. THAT is how old I am, my babies.) With that in mind, I ask for your kindness and your company along this insanity that I'm sharing with you all. 
> 
> A quote that I've had in my mind during this whole quarantine business and while writing this story:  
> “What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.”  
> -Kurt Vonnegut, Palm Sunday: An Autobiographical Collage
> 
> This is the song I imagine Nora listening to high up in her apartment underneath a mid-summer moon.  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXnfhnCoOyo
> 
> Much love in these trying times, take care, be safe, enjoy!

“This model is never going to work.” 

Exasperated, Nora pursed her lips and tapped her stylus on her desk. She was neck-deep in an algorithm that was supposed to be assessing competitive differentiation, completely oblivious to the consistent dinging of her phone, binging of her email notifications, and people buzzing past her door in the communal office outside.

She dug into the source to review - again - and sipped on her third… no, fourth espresso of the day. Something wasn’t clicking. Truth be told, this kind of work was typically below Nora’s pay grade. She had a reputation as a bit of a wunderkind in her earlier years as an actuary. She had worked her way up to an administrative role and it was usually her job to manage team projects and developed strategic initiatives, but this project had gotten complicated and raised through the ranks until it fell on her desk. She had recommended they hire an independent contractor - her typical duties were already backlogged and she hadn’t worked her ass off to become one of the youngest managers in the firm only to be busted back down to code-monkey tasks - but her supervisor denied the request and ordered an expedient solution from Nora instead. 

The big clock tower across the boulevard started bonging the hour into the humid midsummer air - 6pm already. Nora cursed under her breath, scanning and highlighting errant figures she would review the next day. She packed up her phone, slim laptop and notebooks. Hidden under the desk, she discreetly slipped her feet out of her comfy moccasins and into her patent stilettos, adding 3 unnecessary inches to her stature. She tucked the moccasins into her tote and sprinted out of her office and towards the exit. Reaching for the door she heard a granulating voice.

“Eleanor.” she heaved a sigh and closed her eyes to keep them from rolling out of her head.

“Richard.”

“On our way out already?” her supervisor had a smile like a shark - lots of teeth but nothing behind the eyes.

“I’ve got another meeting.”

“There’s nothing on the books, dear.”

“It’s a personal meeting.”

“You can take your personal meeting on personal time.”

“It’s after 5.”

Richard was a large man in his 50s with a protruding forehead, deep angry elevens, and a steep slouch. In an office on the 14th floor full of steel and glass and cutting-edge tech, he wore plaid flannel shirts. He brought homemade salad nicoise for lunch every week and warmed up leftover fish in the office microwave. His hobbies were stamp collecting and riding on other peoples’ boats. (Don’t think for a second he didn’t own his own captain's hat. He did. With his initials embroidered onto it.) Taken on his own he didn’t look like much. Taken on his own, he looked like the kind of guy who either sat for hours and fed pigeons in the park or was serving 25-to-life for eating his neighbour. But in this office, on this floor, in the world of upper-middle management, he was the middlest manager there was. 

“Have you finished that little quibble you were working on?” 

Nora’s eyes flashed.

“The entire model that our next project is going to be based on?”

“That’s the one.”

“No.”

“If it’s so important, don’t you think you ought to see it through?” 

“I’ve done all I can for today.”

“Eleanor, my sweet. The project is on hold until you can address whatever triviality is holding up the process.”

Nora breathed in deep and repressed the cringe she felt from being called 'my sweet'. She adjusted her black frame glasses and smoothed her skirt, turned around and headed back to her office. She dug out her phone and opened one of the forty unread messages, swiping a quick note.

**I’m going to be late tonight.**

She switched her system back on and addressed her buzzing phone.

**Work?**

**Yeah. I might have to reschedule.**

**No problem pumpkin. We can chat soon.**

**Sorry.**

**😘**

Nora knew that her brain was over-taxed. She'd spent too long looking at the problem, it had become wallpaper. It might as well have been written in Latin. Instead of pointlessly hammering at something that wouldn't be hammered, she spent three hours playing games on her system and working on other projects to clear her head and let the problem process in the background, revisiting it at intervals to review and make notes. Three hours. But she fixed it. It was done.

At well past 10pm there was no point in taking the train home - it was a half hour ride at this time of night and she had to be back for 8am anyways. There were hotels just a few blocks over, which was a more practical solution.

Richard left at 6:14.

\--

Friday night. Not just any Friday night; a middle of the summer - _holiday Monday_ \- Friday night. And Nora had big plans.

Saturday afternoon she and a dear friend were going tea sampling at a low-key sommelier in Sotto. Saturday night the two of them would invite some friends to Nora’s for game night. Sunday she had an unbreakable date with a big cup of piping hot tea and the Sunday Trib crossword and her crochet. And Monday, a blissful, wonderful nothing.

But first, she had to make up for her cancellation the night before. The train ride home seemed endless. People shuffling about in the car, loud ads on screens in each corner, ads on the overheads, a guy shuffling through handing out leaflets for a new Joja store opening in Westdale. It was hot and packed and stinky. Arriving home she was greeted by the door man and a couple of her neighbours, who nodded cordially. 

She unpacked and set up her computer, adjusting the camera so she was in frame. She smoothed back her long, dark hair that had gotten a bit frizzy in the humidity of the train and rolled it into a knot on the back of her head with a pencil. The computer dinged as the call went through. 

“Ah, there you are pumpkin! Hon, Nora’s called us back! Your mom will be right here dearling, she’s just freshened up from the courts.”

“How were Bitsy and Reynold?”

“Oh you know once Bitsy and your mom get started.” he made a yapping gesture with his hand and was quickly swatted by a woman in a fresh linen capri day suit.

“Oh stop, you! Your father…” she shook her head at Nora.

“Hi Marian, how’s the knee?”

“Better than ever, dear. The acupuncture, you know.”

“Sorry about yesterday, I couldn’t get away.”

“No trouble at all! You know, all’s well that ends well - Bitsy was saying that there’s been some action on a new development just down the way from one of our prospects. Could raise the value significantly, but we’d have to move on it fast!”

“Ok, which one are we looking at?”

“The one on Brauer, dear.” Nora started making notes as her stepmother rattled off some of the known numbers.

“What about the one on East 18?”

“We were thinking maybe we could do both - if you think that it’s prudent, pumpkin.” Her dad chuckled.

“Ok. Let me run some figures and I can get back to you later tonight or early tomorrow. You should be able to call the realtor by midday if we want to do an offer. Did you clear it with Rob?”

“We’ve got his schedule. We take priority, of course. He might be handling some large renovations but I think being his father should bump us up in the list of priorities, don’t you?”

“Alright."

“It might have gone faster if we still had Clarke.”

Nora tutted.

“Well you don’t. You have your son’s services, my services, and our combined investment capital. That should more than suffice and I’ll thank you not to pine for your ex son-in-law too much.”

“He made the best martinis…” Paul shook his head dreamily, lost in the memories of vermouth and vodka chilled to perfection. Nora rolled her eyes.

“Good night, dad.”

“G’night pumpkin. Talk to you in the morning.”

“Bye dear! Don’t mind your father, he’s already a bit ginny, love.”

“Marian, he’s been pickled since I was in grade school. Good night, take care.”

She disconnected. Already exhausted from the day - the week - that had preceded, this just compounded her tiredness. She sat to crunch her numbers and research the properties.

A knock at the door told her that her spicy noodles had arrived - thai spicy noodles with chicken and crispy spring rolls and peanut sauce. Mmmmm…. And she got back to her research with supper in a beautiful hand-thrown pottery bowl. 

She couldn’t find the Brauer property listed. She pursed her lips and scanned the lists of available properties and lew listings hoping to find it… that lead would be too hot to give up in this market. If Rob did a decent job at the reno (of course he would, he always did) and if her dad and step-mom listed it at just the right time, they’d made a huge profit. Maybe this one could be the last one.

She was getting sick of the side hustle. She was glad she could help her dad and stepmom and it did create some extra income, but it was also somehow disillusioning. It was making her bitter and she wasn’t sure why. Rob was wanting to move on to bigger projects too, but her parents were just shy of retirement and these extra sales really helped build their nest egg. They were veteren real estate agents and had always hoped for a huge haul - a villa, a few penthouse suites, something - but had done very well for themselves on the smaller and mid-range properties. 

She switched to the map to scan the area better, find Brauer and scan the whole block if she had to. She texted her dad back to ask what the property ID number was, having to scan all the listings was a waste of time. The regional map popped up, a 100km radius with properties indicated by little dots popped up on her screen. She went to zoom in to focus on Zuzu but an anomaly caught her eye: an outlying dot south of the mountains and just north of the ocean. Nothing ever got listed there, she didn’t even know there WAS anything residential there. Out of curiosity, she clicked.

It was a farm. The cutest little cottage with yellow gingham curtains and a little covered porch, a chicken coop, flower beds, hives for honeybees… the listing showed cows mugging for the camera and little sheep grazing in a dandelion-strewn pasture. “Lerwick Farm'' read a rugged wooden sign beside a dusty winding road and rough-hewn fence. Nora moogled it: Lerwick Farm, Pelican Bay, nestled right in the heart of Stardew Valley. The map showed the spot - not a lot of street-seen spots, but a little shop (she loved a little shop), a pub, a gorgeous beach, stunning mountains… There were a few news articles, and a VuTube video of some local cable news piece from four years ago. Nora clicked on the video link. 

“I’m Pia Poulopopoulos reporting in the beautiful village of Pelican Town on the southern shore of Stardew Valley. This idyllic setting may have stunning vistas of the ocean and the mountains, but one local woman saw something else: a vision… for opportunity.” The camera panned across the farm from the photos with the headline “Farmer Feeds Community” blazoned across the bottom banner.

_“Kate Islington was a city girl through and through…_ ” the narrator’s voice cut out and an athletic looking woman with a tanned pink complexion and her hair tied back in a ponytail and headband (like a soccer player, Nora thought) appeared on the screen.

“I spent my whole life in the suburbs and in the city, I did the whole “normal life” thing. Went to college, got the job where I could move up the corporate ladder, the whole package.”

_“But something was missing…”_

“I’d come home at night and I knew I had had a busy day, but had no idea what I’d actually accomplished. I wanted to do something meaningful with my time, with my talents. I wanted to help people and make a difference.”

_“And she did! After one too many bad days at her corporate job, she decided she was ready for a change.”_

“This farm was my grandfather’s. He planted those trees over there, and built this house from the foundation up.”

_“It wasn’t only the farmhouse and lands that Kate fixed up: in addition to her farming keeping the local economy afloat during the Gotoro war years, Kate also invested in the local infrastructure.”_

“The community centre, the bus, a bunch of stuff here, they all needed fixing…”

“And set her sights… on the bigger picture.” The newscaster had perfected the ‘human interest story’ inflection. B-reel footage rolled with Kate’s voice dubbed over. 

“This is a community. We all use these things, we all need each other. Especially in a small community, everyone is important, everyone plays a vital role. Coming from a city, you don’t realize just how much you need each other and all of the resources here. I just thought I could fix them. Why not?”

_“The community centre, now a bustling social spot, is far from the derelict structure she saw. Through Kate’s hard work and dedication, this new space has become a hub for this small community. When I asked if she had any words for the people out there she had this to say:_ ”

“I wanted to do something worthwhile. Life is too short to spend so much of it wishing time away, hoping for tomorrow, hoping it’ll be better or that next week will be better or next month or next year. Make the change today, make a difference today. I wanted to get my hands dirty and make something of my own, something real. I couldn’t stand being cooped up in an office, now I work on the land. I was being micromanaged, now I’m my own boss. Don’t live with regret for what you could have done. Make the difference today. Make the choice TODAY.”

A chill ran through Nora’s whole body. Something clicked. She sat motionless as the newscast ended.

“From sunny Stardew Valley, I’m Pia Poulopopoulos for Channel 5 news. Back to you Brynn!” Nora closed the tab before the next video played.

Is this what a wake-up call looks like? Is this one of those signs from the universe? She went back to the listing and reviewed the details - the farm was listed at a reasonable price. It had been on the market for several weeks, but it already had a few upgrades and new buildings, and it was profitable every year. It would be hard work, but so much had already been done. 

Her apartment was small but tasteful and chic. She looked around at her belongings and wondered how they would look inside a little cottage: her artwork, her edwardian-era furniture, her collection of locally-made pottery, her fine china teacups… actually, from an aesthetic perspective the transition would be pretty seamless.

She looked down at her hands - her manicured nails, soft palms and fingertips, her opal ring and thin white gold bracelet. She would have to trade those in for practical nails, calluses, and work gloves. Dirt in the cuticles, jewelry just for special occasions, broken nails… but if she was going to be stopped by that she wouldn’t have given it a second look. 

She thought back on the overtime she’d worked. Hours and hours, probably over 40 hours every month in extra work without acknowledgement or gratitude. Why shouldn’t that extra work be for herself? She thought of those high heels she dreaded wearing, of the office she had just left, fluorescent lights buzzing, computers buzzing, phones buzzing, people buzzing. She thought of Richard’s stupid face and condescending attitude and the project that was half-done that would land on his plate if she were to leave. She could still do consultant work remotely for an extra income, she had a full network of contacts. 

She thought about the hard work. It would hurt at first, aches and pains, slivers, exhaustion. It would be quiet; no car horns or traffic or commuter trains, no crowds. Possibly no takeout or delivery… hmm. She might have to look into that a bit. 

“I know how to cook…” she mused to herself. “I can always come to the city to do a big shop once a month for ingredients they don’t have there.”

Nora wasn’t the kind of person to doubt herself. She was an actuary. She did her research, weighed the data, and came to logical and sound evidence-based conclusions. That said, all of the best decisions she’d ever made - choosing her major in university, marrying her husband, expanding her career path, divorcing her husband - had been made in moments of clarity like this one. Quick and decisive. She emailed the listing agent who, unsurprisingly, responded right away with their cell number. 

The showing would be Monday. 

But for now she was back to the side hustle and haze of long-weekend-Friday night, albeit with daydreams of cows and clover and crops and a few acres of her own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh god, how many words??? I'm still finding my voice, but if you notice some clunkiness that's possibly on purpose - Nora is... odd. She's very odd. But she's lovely, and I think you'll enjoy getting to know her :D 
> 
> (I'm also still figuring out Ao3 and may fix a few little formatting errors if I spot any. Oof, what a learning curve)
> 
> I would love to hear your thoughts, they will sustain me! 
> 
> I have started a Tumblr. It's very empty at the mo', but I'll post fun things there as I find them. Join me, won't you!  
> https://latenightartisan.tumblr.com/


	2. Valuations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Farm visits, meeting Kate, and the beginning of many slightly-changed-in-world-references!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UPDATED 08-2020: Hi all! So glad you're reading, and I hope you're enjoying Common Ground! The first like, 10 chapters are story. If you're here for smut, there's a smidge in chapter 12 and will be more in future chapters. I bumped it up to E after posting chapter 12 so as to not ruffle any feathers or be responsible for the wanton clutching of pearls. That's all! Thanks for reading ^.^

“Sorry, you did what?” Esther nearly dropped a stitch as her friend casually mentioned a complete life change over tea. Nora’s face was placid but determined. Esther eyed her from over her knitting with a cocked brow.

“I’m just going to take a look.” Nora reasoned.

“It’s in the middle of nowhere.”

“It’s on the ocean. It might be the edge of nowhere...”

“Ok, edge of nowhere - no Ship the Dishes or Mega Eats - and an hour away?”

“About an hour from the city, probably closer to an hour and a half from Roseville though.”

Esther attempted a sip of her still-too-hot water with lemon. It was hard enough for the two of them to get together after Nora moved from the suburb where they had both lived to the city, doubly so because of Esther’s two kids and husband, who was always on shift work as a nurse.

“And what does your data say?”

“There is so much that could be done there. The data shows complete stagnation - both economic and migration - but steady employment.”

“Are there vacation properties there?”

“There are _no_ properties there. That’s the crazy thing. Other than this property, which was an inheritance, the only growth it’s seen in the last ten years was one person who literally moved into a shack on the sand. There’s evidence of one property that’s probably been abandoned or demolished, and a Joja Mart tried to set up shop there and failed. That’s it.”

“Hold up. They couldn’t even keep a Joja?”

“The data seems to suggest that it failed because of this farm. Everyone bought from the local market rather than the warehouse store.”

“I have a tough time believing that Joja wouldn't have done the research about the town prior to trying to set up shop. They wouldn’t waste their money on a sure failure.” Esther had a tough time turning off the economic development side, even on long weekends.

“Ah, that’s the interesting bit. The farm was abandoned, then Joja made the plans to move in, THEN the farm was reinvigorated and the megamart failed.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah.”

“And there’s a beach?” 

“And a forest. And a mountain with a crystal clear lake.”

“And how soon could I come for a visit?” 

“I haven’t even gone to see it yet!” Nora shook her head with a smile. Esther cleaned a smudge off of her glasses, tucking the stray strands of hair not captured by her short ponytail back behind her ears as she replaced the frames.

“That’s an A+ on the research there, Eleanor.” Esther gave her friend’s foot a tiny kick of approval under the little table.

The two sat in comfortable silence knitting; Esther, a mitten for her five year old son and Nora, a pair of socks for her stepmother. If Esther disapproved of Nora’s idea, she didn’t show it. The two had supported each other through a lot in the ten years they’d known one another. Besides, the comfort of the company, gentle clicking of the needles, and dappled sunlight in the tea room provided far too warm a setting for any disagreement. 

The tea sommelier returned with a tray of small tea cups, biscuits, fruit and preserves for them to pair with their cooling cups. She presented them with a flourish and a description of the ingredients and how they could expect the flavours to interact with their brew. The tendrils of steam from the tea were beginning to subside, she blew on her small cup again to test its temperature.

“When would you get time off?”

“When do I get time off now?”

“Just schedule a Saturday morning for pancakes once in a while. I don’t want to start missing your face.” Esther sipped her tea, enjoying the floral fragrance and mellow taste. Nora smiled as she took a bite of a biscuit with the preserve that tasted a bit like a forest. 

\-----

“You found the place okay?” Yolanda, the realtor, extended her hand to Nora and gave a firm shake.

“I did!” she surveyed the land past the wattle fence. “The photos on the listing were deceptive, the size is different than what I was expecting.” she said strategically. The land surveys she had already pulled from the regional administration office were less deceptive, but her dad had taught her to always moderate your comments to keep negotiation power. “How long has the current owner been here?”

“Eight years, would be nine next spring. They’ve put in all new iridium sprinklers here and in the greenhouse, both coops and both barns have heaters and auto-feeders and collectors, she’s built one silo and had plans for a second, and they’ve included the artisanal crafting supplies as chattel…” Yolanda checked her list, “four dozen casks, ten kegs, six cheese presses, six preserve jars, six mayonnaise jars, as well as a machine that can synthesize minerals and a few standard furnaces.”

Nora took in the panorama. There were no tall skyscrapers that made it feel like you were forever living underneath another world, there was no hustle, no traffic, there would be no commute. There was no public transit, outside maybe that bus she saw at the turnoff (she’d need to get a car again…) The air was fresh and, as long as you kept a wide berth of the coops and barns on the far western side of the property, there was no weird, persistent smell like there was in the blocks around her uptown apartment.

“Where are the closest neighbours?” Nora wondered out loud.

“There’s a ranch south of here, the town is just past that turn-off you took, and there’s a house up the mountain. Probably a 10-15 minute walk or more in any direction to the next doorstep.”

“Ah.” Nora took a few notes in a sleek pocket notepad. “And what are the measurements of the plots here?” she flipped to a page where she had made notes on the planting distance between each of the most successful and profitable crops in the area and needed to fill in the missing variables. Yolanda checked through her notes.

“I’m sure it’s here somewhere, let me see…”

“We’ve got 3x6 iridium sprinklers in the first plot, a single width of pathway, and 4x6 in the plot by the pasture.” An athletic looking woman with a glowing tan and freckled face approached them from behind. “Each sprinkler waters a 5x5 area, a total of 24 square units each.” 

Nora took down these notes and worked out a calculation of over 1000 square units for those sections as the woman spoke.

“Kate! Nora, this is Kate, the current owner.” Nora and the blonde woman shook hands briefly Nora finished her scribbling.

“What do you think so far, then?” Kate beamed. Nora slightly hesitated before giving a very political answer:

“I can tell how much love you’ve put into the place.”

“Oh my yes, it breaks my heart to leave, to be honest. I was holding on to it for my step-daughter, I thought she might want to take it over one day since my husband and I are looking at a place a couple towns over to expand… but she wants to go to school, wants to be a pâtissiere she says.”

“There’s a good program for that in the City.”

“Oh yes! I know, and the place we’re looking at is closer by about 40 minutes so she could live at home, or it would at least be closer to visit… but look at me going on and on, what brings you out here?”

“Oh, I just saw the property and thought I would take a look…”

“Do you own a farm now?”

“Er, no…” Nora felt a bit like she was being interrogated.

“You live in the area?” The two started walking towards the greenhouse, surveying the area. Nora checked the integrity of the buildings as they passed.

“Um… I live in the city. In Zuzu.”

“When Yolanda told me that a woman named Eleanor was coming to see the property, I figured it would be someone looking to retire onto a hobby farm, but you look too young to retire! You’re what, 30?”

“32.”

“Goodness, ages away from retirement. But you’re a gardener? Or you work with animals?”

“I’m… an actuary.” Nora started feeling like she should have hired her own realtor instead of going through the listing agent. She felt exposed and like she was being disqualified from the purchase because she wasn’t already a farmer. She was regretting not hiring her own realtor, although she really didn’t want to risk her dad finding out about the viewing just yet. 

“So this would have been quite the move for you.” Kate continued as she led Nora across the property.” Do you work for a bank or something?” A dog danced at Kate’s feet, she gave it a good ruffle as it jumped up to greet her.

“Not a bank, no. I do work in the financial sector.”

“Work in a cubicle?”

“I used to. I have my own office now.”

“Interesting.” The two continued walking. There was a small grove of trees with little tappers on them. “Those tappers come with the place. Nothing quite like maple syrup from your own stock.”

“So you and your husband are moving a few counties in?” Nora questioned, trying to turn the tables a bit.

“Oh yes! We’re expanding our poultry division and there’s a perfect space for us, we breed and show chickens, we sell eggs and egg products, poultry, and breeding services. My husband is a bit of a sensation in the chicken breeding world, he’s the one who developed the blue crested variety. He’s so smart!”

“And your stepdaughter is going with you?”

“Yes! Hard to believe it but she’ll be finishing up high school soon. She was just a little girl when I got here, I can’t believe how quickly time has passed. Although nothing makes the passage of time more obvious than having a child in your life. Do you have kids?”

“Oh. No. Just me.”

“No partner in crime? Or loving family members to turn into free labour?” Kate winked

“No. Just me.”

“This is a big job for one person to take on!” Kate opened the door to the barn and let Nora in. “These are my other babies. These girls are Maisie, that’s Meryl and this pushy girl is McClane - she was born on Feast of the Winter Star, which is inextricably linked with the timeless Winter Star movie Kill Hard.” Kate scruffed behind the ear of a big spotted cow that mooed in response. Nora’s eyes lit up at the mention of Kill Hard.

“I love Kill Hard.” she said, probably a little bit too emphatically. Kate cracked a broad smile.

“These little piggies are Chorizo, Bratwurst, Kielbasa and Salami. It’s a joke because they’re just truffle pigs. Thems not for eatings, are they!” Kate patted the pig on the head as she introduced them to Nora. “The sheepies and goats are in the next barn, that one’s not a full house like this one though. I was planning on breeding one of the goats, goat cheese turns a decent profit around here. And there’s one coop FULL of chickens, and another that’s half ducks and half floofy little bunnies. Would you like to see them?”

They toured the structures and pasture, there was a full lot of pine trees in the southern part of the property that could be harvested for wood, two ponds, and a mature fruit tree orchard. As they toured they chatted; as they chatted they found out how much they had in common. Kate had an office job before moving to the farm and getting it to its current state. She had put a ton of work in: The house, the barns, the coops were all upgraded. There was ample storage in bins near a large wooden shipping container, and the greenhouse was lined in all different kinds of trees with a full field of hot pepper plants. 

“They’re my husband’s favourite. We make pepper jelly, salsa, and of course pepper poppers. We love those! But you can grow anything here, even in the winter. It’s so nice! And just over there” she said leaving the greenhouse and heading towards the house “is a little cave, a few years back a local scientist set up mushrooms for experiments. I sell some of them, but I keep some of them, they make really useful medicine!” 

Kate stepped up the front porch and held open the screen door, the inner door had a low brass handle and she lifted the door a bit as she opened it. It was at this point that Nora realized that they’d lost Yolanda a ways back, she was chatting at the back of the house with a man who was tending to some chickens. Kate gestured to the open door and invited Nora in. Nora was already somewhat exhausted from the whirlwind tour and deluge of information from Kate, but soldiered on. 

“We had an addition put on. When I got here it was literally just one room. All I had space for was my bed and a table and chair, and an old TV that my grandfather had here. It was his farm and house, I inherited it. He was a very simple man, no frills, no fuss at all. It’s primarily heated by the fireplaces, there’s one in this main space and another one in the bedroom to keep it nice and toasty in the winter months. There’s also a basement, and there’s a big bedroom upstairs and a spare room too. We use the spare room for our processing and preserving equipment, and the basement is just casks for ageing our cheeses.”

“Do you make wine too? Or beer?” Nora asked, taking a peek into the immaculate main floor bedroom.

“Oh no. No wine, no beer.” Kate opened up the curtains over the kitchen sink to let in the natural light. “I do make sparkling fruit juice and vegetable juices! And we make our own truffle and sunflower oil. And pickles! There’s a bit of a cache built up here, and we’re storing all of the honey that the hives are producing. We put in a ton of bee hives and ended up with a surplus, we’ve been sending it to Pierre’s - that’s the general store in town, Pierre’s - in small batches. There’ll be plenty to keep them stocked over winter, I should think.” 

Nora stepped up the staircase to a room pulsing with equipment: presses, preserves, mayo machines all churning to produce saleable goods. The upstairs bedroom was decorated with pink wallpaper that had been sponged with turquoise and dotted with posters of pop performers and celebrities. A large stuffed teddy bear sat in the corner by the bed next to a desk littered with the trappings of a teenage girl - hair ties and clips, earbuds, loose jewelry, last month’s pop socket, and other small treasures. A crib in the corner had been repurposed to house a horde of stuffies and different shaped pillows.

“There’s no shortage of space! And this is a nice big room. It could be just about anything.”

“The rooms are bright. Lots of natural light coming in, that’s good.”

“Oh yes, and the heat is evenly distributed too, if you were here in the winter you’d notice how…” Kate kept talking as she descended the staircase. Nora took a last glance into the room with the ungodly amount of pink and followed down the staircase with a sigh.

\-----

The elevator ride up to the 10th floor seemed endless. It was only mid afternoon but Nora was drained from the day.

She had _all_ of the papers from Yolanda and from Kate, the records from the administration office and her own research. She also had work in the morning. But she was going to work these numbers and see if she could find a scenario or two where purchasing was feasible. It would be tight, but if she could find just a bit of wiggle room she could quit her job, buy the property, run the farm, and still invest in the properties her parents had found without blowing up her savings and future securities. 

Kate had sent Nora home with a dozen eggs, some fresh produce and some of the farm’s artisanal products. It was an armful to carry, but Nora was grateful. 

She set up her computer and got her station ready: all of her notes, the papers, the records, a calculator, a notepad, her spreadsheet software (with custom formulae for just this sort of project), and her cell phone. She was in for the long haul.

The projections came together, with adjustments for change in ownership and a gear-up period; incorporate data calculating for inflation, consideration for changing weather patterns, known and expected surpluses and shortages; factor in anticipated benefits and risks…

That couldn’t be right. There was no way she could make that work. She rolled through her personal finances again and made some adjustments, maybe put a bit more of her savings towards the down payment and… still no dice. She just needed some wiggle room and she could make it work.

She couldn’t ask her dad and stepmom for help, they were trying to retire. She couldn’t ask her mother for help; she WOULDN’T ask her mother for help.

If she were to ramp up her savings for 6 months - and if the property was still there in 6 months - maybe. Maybe it would be doable. But based on her calculations it likely wouldn’t be there by then. Kate would become motivated to sell, someone would come along to snatch it up. She could put in a conditional offer with a long close, but that would give up negotiation power and Kate might come back with a higher number to compensate.

It was too much to think about after such a long day. Nora made some notes and, with a lingering forlorn look, stepped away from her system.

It was silly. It was a silly idea. It was nice to think about it though. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter had MORE words than the last one somehow. Send help. And send feedback, I would love to hear from you!
> 
> I have up to about chapter 7 written, up to chapter 10 fully outlined, and most of the rest of the fic roughly outlined. Working towards the whole shebang!!  
> Thanks for reading :D


	3. How do You Figure?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kind of day that takes you, shakes you, and makes you doubt the goodness of your fellow humans.  
> One of those days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick warning: swears abound!

Nothing, truly nothing, ever helped Nora to wake up in a good way. 

It was hard for her to get to sleep and stay asleep, especially after she moved to the city. To keep out the light and noise pollution from the streets below she had installed heavy blackout curtains that muffled the sound and let in not a shard of light. That made it hard to wake up in the dark, so she got one of those gradual phasing-in lights that hooked up to your phone. That was too gentle, so she added an alarm, but that was too jarring so she tried music she liked. That made her want to stay in bed, quit her job, and keep at home and listen to music all day, so she switched to music she hated and put the speaker with the shut-off button across the room for good measure. So when she woke up, it was in a dark room filled with artificial light, and music she couldn’t stand so that she didn’t spontaneously quit her job and throw off her whole career.

It worked, but it was misery. It’s no way to start your day.

The metro was miserable. The turnstile was malfunctioning and Nora had to hop over the bar in her pencil skirt while a clerk scanned her pass. She missed the first train, but caught the second and managed to show up to work on time despite the universe’s best efforts.

She reviewed her notes from the previous week’s marathon programming session, still annoyed at stupid Richard but proud of herself for solving what seemed to be a problem with no solution. There were some additional to-dos on her team projects, and she got busy getting those things done.

“Eleanor.” a voice oozed from her doorway. Looking up she saw Richard with one of his peons, a middle-aged lady with sterling silver hair, coral lipstick and thick rim glasses, darkening her space. “Lorraine and I will be meeting with the client shortly. You will sit in on the call to explain what you completed last week.”

Fabulous. An invitation (more of an order...) to Richard’s corner office. The corner office that he kept too hot even in the dead of summer with an infrared space heater. And it was salade nicoise day.

Nora gathered her notebook and devices and followed the pair down the hallway to Richard’s office where his assistant informed them that the client had just called in and was ready on line 4.

“Mario. How was your long weekend?” Richard had a natural delivery that made the question sound like an interrogation rather than polite small talk. Lorraine and Nora prepped their books to take notes. 

“Oh, it was alright! Spent some time with the grandkids. How was yours?”

“It was very fine. I was in the north country, my friend has a boat there. We were all weekend on the water, you know. Now I have Lorraine here, whom you have met, as well as Eleanor who mostly works with our less experienced teams. Now, Mario, I think I’ve come up with a solution for that problem that we’ve been after for the past few weeks.”

There was silence on the other end of the line.

“The problem?”

“Yes, you know, the little issue Nora’s team was having in developing a specialized competitive differentiation model.”

“Oh! Richard, I told you not to worry about that. Like I said last month, I think we’re going to take the project focus in a different direction, we should be able to use a more straightforward approach if we change just a few variables. I think I sent over the specs a couple weeks ago, we should be able to get data that’s just as accurate but without all those messy back channels.”

Nora felt hollow. 

“Ah, that’s right! Very well then, Eleanor you may be excused back to your team work. We can take it from here.”

Nora got up and left, the smell of over-boiled eggs, mayonnaised tuna, and heavily brined olives dissipating from her sinuses as she stepped out of the room. 

“Keep it together, woman…” she told herself through the mist of fury that was descending. “Go splash some water on your face or something, have another coffee and get back with the program.”

After unloading her things back in her office she stepped into the washroom. Inside there was a woman from Accounts Payable whom Nora had met - a nice lady, probably in her 40s, two teen-aged kids at home - sobbing into the mirror. Nora approached the counter cautiously and washed her hands, patting them on her face before dabbing with a paper towel. She offered a tissue from the far corner of the counter to the woman, who eked out a small “thank you” before squeaking sadly and starting her sobbing anew.

“Do you need me to get someone?” Nora asked pathetically, unsure if she should be intervening at all. .

“No. I just can’t take it anymore.” the woman cried. “I’ll be ok, I just need a minute.” she sniffled. And snorted. And started sobbing once more.

“I know how you feel.” Nora said, passing the woman another two tissues and excusing herself from the room.

Back in her office, Nora looked at her phone and pulled up the photos she had taken at Lerwick Farm. One of Meryl Moo the cow with clover all over her muzzle and one of a little honey bee that had landed on a fairy rose. She felt a migraine coming on and a weird pricking at her sinuses. The weather must be turning.

\-----

The day was endless. Her team was capable and did good work, but had been hamstrung by the revelation that Richard had completely fucked up the project they were working on. They couldn’t move forward without the specs, which his assistant still hadn’t sent, and which the man himself claimed he couldn’t find in his mass of emails. The entire office felt off-kilter, like someone had been spinning plates and couldn’t keep up and they were all about to crash any moment - a sense of imminent disaster.

A few of her team talked about quitting. Some of them revealed that they had standing offers from other firms. Nora’s head spun with all of the completely legitimate dissatisfaction that they brought to her. How can the firm do work when one person is screwing it up for everyone? When one person doesn’t communicate, ask questions, pass along information? And in the back of her mind echoed Richard's words: “ _ I _ think that  _ I’ve _ come up with a solution” ringing over and over again. 

At 5pm she checked her peripheral vision to scan the office. Richard’s door was closed. He was in a meeting until 5:30. Her team was surreptitiously starting to pack up personal belongings - just a few - to get them out of the office. She looked around her own space. The only personal affects she had were her moccasins and a business card holder made of rosewood that her brother had made for her. She placed them both in her work tote, slipped on her heels and, checking again to make sure that Richard was nowhere to be seen, jetted to the door.

She couldn’t do this again. She couldn’t face that goddamned office again. There must be something she could do. Something. Her team would be ok, they were all capable and it was a buyer’s market for up-and-coming actuaries, especially with the extra coding professional development she had approved for them to take. She quickened her pace and called the elevator, heart pounding in her throat. She couldn’t do this again.

The metro was packed and stunk like sweat. It was hot and humid and the end of the first day back after a long weekend. Everyone in the metro car wore the same look on their face; a look that said  _ just get through this thing, just get home. Shake it off. Get through it. Get over it. Get past it. _ Nora could hear Kate’s words from the news segment video echoing through her head, something about “wishing time away” and what a regrettable experience that is. She couldn’t keep doing this. She had to do something to find the wiggle room that she needed to change her life. 

Nora closed her eyes and negotiated with herself, swearing that if she could figure out a way to make the farm in the valley work that she would be every bit of the farmer that Kate was. She would do the community work, find ways to chip in, use whatever skills she had to make it a better place. She bargained with the universe to give her a sign, push her in the right direction; show her what she could do to make the change that she needed in her life, just throw her a bone. Please.

She climbed the stairs out of the underground and the skies had opened into a pour of rain. 

\--- ---

Near her apartment and soaked to the skin, Nora ducked into a little Italian food market to pick some things up for dinner. She grabbed some bacon and spinach and fresh pasta to make linguine carbonara with the eggs that Kate had given her. Something, anything to shake this god awful day off and figure out what to do next. She picked up a few other treats: a chocolate bar, some fresh berries for oatmeal tomorrow, and a couple regular groceries she knew she needed. 

Stepping into her building with more of a haul than she intended, she gave a half-hearted smile to the doorman. He looked at her bags and regretfully informed her that the elevators were out of service. There was something wrong with the panel, the building super had called a repair company, but it would be a couple of hours.

Nora blinked hard. She swallowed hard. Why was everything about this day so hard?!? She flung her bags over her shoulder and headed defiantly to the stairs. What’s ten double flights of stairs when you’re already angry?

What is ten flights indeed. 

By the fourth flight she had to stop completely to catch her breath. She was used to walking everywhere, but not climbing so many stairs all at once, and not with the burden or her work bag, purse AND groceries. Her legs felt like jelly. She readjusted her bags and started up the next flight, slowly, trying to will her heart rate to cooperate and get down to a tolerable level. By flight 6 she was ready to give up. She heaved her feet up every step, practically able to hear her muscles groaning at each movement. By flight 8 she needed a real break. She sat down on the step, set down her mass of groceries and looked up - only four half-flights of stairs left, or was it five? Good god. 

She cursed herself for not exercising more, for picking up groceries she could’ve done without (even though she really wanted that carbonara, maybe she didn’t need to pick up two jars of passata and a 2L bottle of cranberry juice…), for not taking a cab home from the office instead of the stinky metro and the rainy streets, for wearing the four inch heels instead of her moccasins. The moccasins… She cursed herself for trying to blast up for the first four flights, like it was a goddamn sprint as she took off her heels and slipped on her moccasins feeling like an idiot.

She had to hoist herself up, her legs burning with every stair. 

“This is how I die.” she muttered to herself dramatically. “In a stairwell, soaking wet, of exhaustion and fury and self-pity.” 

She hauled the bags and herself up one, two, three, four entire flights (thank all that is good and sane that it was only four flights and not five) and resolved to get in more cardio, more strength, more anything to never have to feel this helpless again. 

She shook as she reached an exhausted arm to open the stairwell door and stumbled down the hallway to her apartment. Her hands and arm trembled as she took her keys from her pocket and attempted to slide her door key into the lock. Once inside, she collapsed on the couch, dropping the bags at her feet and she heaved a sad, exhausted sigh. Stillness. Solitude. Sanity.

Her phone dinged. 

Her eyes clicked open at the invasive noise. It was her dad’s notification tone. She glared at her phone, debating whether or not to bother. She picked it up grumbling and checked the stupid message.

**We’ve got offers going back and forth.**

**Sending you one to look at tonight.**

**No competing offers yet, but we’ll need to move fast!**

Nora rolled her head, heart still banging in her neck and a migraine now threatening to descend any moment. 

**Dad, I can’t do it right now. I need time.**

**We might not have time.**

**Need to get this done, pumpkin.**

**I’ve just had the day from hell.**

**Can I have like an hour here?**

**Time’s ticking.**

Nora groaned.

**I’ll do what I can.**

“I can do it. It’ll be fine. I just need to sit here for a few more minutes and catch my breath. And get my head to stop banging. And try to find the will to live, which I’m positive is around here somewhere because I sure as shit didn’t have it at work…”

Her phone dinged again. She was furious. It chimed three quick times in succession and her blood pressure spiked. Nora glared at the ceiling seething, just needing a moment to herself, needing a break, a second to literally breathe. She stared at the notification. There were three texts from an unknown number.

**Hi Nora! It was great to meet you yesterday.**

**This is Kate.**

**From the farm! 😄**

Nora shook her head, added the number to her contacts and texted back quickly:

**Hi Kate. It was great to meet you too**

She had left her personal card for Kate, just in case they needed to touch base - but anticipated that they would primarily connect through Yolanda. 

She rested and calmed down, breathing deeply and remembering the dinner she wanted to make. She didn’t nearly-perish lugging those bags up 200 steps (that felt like 2000) for nothing. She only muttered to herself a little bit as she got her apartment settled and took a damn anti-inflammatory pill for her pounding head. She ran her hand under the faucet waiting for the water to warm up, filled a pot, dumped in a spoon of salt and started water boiling for pasta and started prepping the bacon, egg, and cheese for some delicious linguine carbonara.

Nora started a pan warming to cook the bacon and sliced a couple strips into good sized pieces. The water was boiling and ready for the pasta. Dinner would be ready in no time. She heard her phone ding again - several times - while she grated the parmesan and beat the egg in a small bowl. She washed her hands and checked her phone. 

**I was thinking about our chat yesterday.**

**You remind me so much of myself before I came to the valley.**

**I was just a bit younger than you when I moved here.**

**I grew up in the city too.**

**I had a corporate job. Worked in the rat race.**

**Guh, it was endless.**

Nora felt the weird pricking at her sinuses again. A couple of tears welled in her eyes, the awful day she had just arrived home from still filmy on her skin. Kate sent a gif of a skeleton typing at a computer accompanied with a “lol”. 

“Maybe I can call in sick tomorrow…” she thought to herself. “Maybe I just won’t go in…” Her phone dinged again.

**Moving here has given me more than I ever could have hoped or imagined. I’ve made friends, I’ve made a difference, I met my husband here! And I don’t know where either of us would be if we hadn’t met one another.**

**Anyways, sorry about this essay! My texts are endless. I don’t mean to talk your ear off.**

**Ear off? Eyes off? Eyes off. I’m going with eyes.**

**Sorry, that was awkward. :P**

Nora texted back quickly before she got to finishing the noodles in the pan with garlic, egg, black pepper and the cheese.

**Don’t apologize, Kate. I can tell it means a lot to you.**

**You’ve done very well there, it’s an important part of your life.**

She settled her plate and a sparkling grape juice (also from the farm) down by her computer, ready to get to work on reviewing the offer her dad sent over. Her phone dinged again.

**Can I be honest with you?**

Nora pondered, furrowing her brow at this frankness. She didn’t always trust text messaging. For one thing, you can’t read body language or vocal inflection. In addition, this was a person she just met, albeit a very earnest person. Kate was very open and sincere, which put Nora off-centre somehow. She tapped her phone trying to think of how to respond, but really, what did she have to lose at this point.

**Sure. Sock it to me.**

**I want you to move here.**

**I know we just met, but I have a feeling that you need this place.**

**And I want someone special to have it, this land means so much to me.**

**We’ve had a dozen offers but none of them felt right.**

**The people weren’t right, they didn’t want it for the right reasons…**

**But I could see it in your face. You need a change, just like I did.**

**I think you should buy it.**

Nora stared at her phone, unsure how to respond. Thanks? We’ll see? Sorry, I can’t? 

What could she say that sounded kind and polite without sounding like she was committing one way or another? What could she say when she agreed with Kate that she needed the change? That she would love to buy it, that she was desperate - after this day from the very depths of hell - to leave her job and start a new life. But that it just wasn’t in the cards, the numbers didn’t add up. She couldn’t respond with that. 

Her phone dinged again. 

**If you want it (and I hope you do!!) I’ll knock 10% off the asking price.**

“Well damn.” Nora whispered to herself. “There’s the wiggle room.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A recipe for pasta carbonara! I use linguine because I like the thickness of it.  
> Some people add peas, sometimes I like to add spinach.  
> https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/simple-carbonara
> 
> Keep well, friends!


	4. There’s No Place Like 127.0.0.1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora settles into farm life and welcomes her first guest.

It was autumn. Wild plums swelled in bushes at the turn-off; a good shake would loose a basket full of hazelnuts from their branches. Most of the harvest had already been brought in, but a huge field of cranberries would see another picking imminently and probably one more before the frost and snow settled in; a crop of pumpkins would be full-grown for the Spirits Eve celebration; and a field of corn would be ready for picking in a couple days’ time. Nora breathed in deep, the scent of damp leaves and crisp air filling her with memories of fall walks, chai teas, late nights, and cozy sweaters.

The movers were on-task getting her furniture moved in and arranged, and Nora had set up her coffee pot and a box of apple fritters to make sure no one went without. It hardly felt real, and was hard to believe how quickly so much could change.

_“You can’t quit, we’re in the middle of this project.” Richard was incredulous._

_“YOU are in the middle of this project. As of 3pm today I am not involved in this project.”_

_“You work from home for two weeks, against my wishes I will have you know - I was INFORMED by HR of this development for my own staff- then you come back into the office with this… this?”_

_“Correct.” Nora shifted her weight impatiently. Having already handed her resignation to the partners those two weeks ago and overburdened with a bag of gifts and cards from the farewell party, she was not up for this conversation._

_“You’re leaving your team in a terrible place, you know.” Richard knew just which screw to turn, just which button to push to make a person feel worthless. He had used her team as a carrot, as a millstone, as a scapegoat and a bargaining chip. But not this time._

_“I believe you have lost most of the team. Many of them have already accepted offers at other firms or under different managers.” Richard looked incredulous at this, his face turning beet red and knuckles cracking under the stress of his clenched fists._

_“And you? What offer did you accept?”_

_“None.”_

_“Well, that is short-sighted, do you not think so dear? I certainly won’t recommend you. Not after this blatant dereliction of duty”_

_“I don’t need your recommendation. I’ve got recommendations from the partners.”_

_“You. Did not. Go over my head. To the partners.” Richard paled, his watery eyes narrowing but betraying his horror._

_“I have submitted to the partners my resignation and my final report, which among other things details the status f each of the projects I was involved in. Including the ones on which we were not provided updates or timely information.”_

_“How dare you.”_

_“It was requested. It was pertinent, thorough, and supported by evidence. And if you were doing your job properly, you wouldn’t need to be worried about it.”_

_“Nora….” he pleaded._

_“Richard.” She turned on her heel and left his office hoping never to set foot in his presence again._

Her parents had sold her apartment quickly but with a generous closing, leaving her ample time to pack and book movers. The farmhouse could be ready with just a few days’ notice, but Nora took some extra time to work on some surprise contract projects from the partners at the old firm. It was a good way to pad her own nest egg.

Kate was a saint. True to her word, she took 10% off the asking price AND paid for an inspection herself. The two got to chatting while they were organizing the offer and the inspection and developed a quick and close friendship. Although they were very different in their temperament and approach to life, they came from similar stories and wanted similar things: simpler living, autonomy, personal satisfaction, and the exhaustion of a job well-done. 

With the closing date set for later in the fall, Kate offered to invest in the seeds for the season - most of the harvest would be hers, but Nora was more than welcome to whatever was left before winter set in. She left hundreds of things in the storage bins that she said might be useful for Nora: wood, stone, batteries, coal, strange looking slime and other weird items that Kate said were for crafting, her old gold tools, and a deluxe fishing rod with dozens of different spinners. Inside the house, she left a cold cellar full of ingredients from all seasons: things she had grown, foraged, created and found. She left a tin of cookies for the movers and a bag of freshly roasted coffee beans for Nora. 

Nora had already started unpacking while the movers were navigating other rooms. First and foremost, she located and unpacked her PC, laptop, tablet, and cables. She wasn’t about to go through a day without her life lines to her projects, her family and friends, and the outside world. She found her movie and video game collection as the movers started setting up her TV and living room furniture. 

She had ended up selling or donating a lot of things rather than packing and moving them: tchotchkes, decorations she didn’t want, about a hundred mugs, pens, mouse pads, cheap USB drives, etc. that she didn’t use but had received as gifts from well-intentioned friends, as conference swag, gifts-with-purchase, etc. 

There were sentimental things that she wanted to keep with her: the mug that Esther had made when she took a weekend pottery course; her grandmother’s china tea set (even though she had a perfectly serviceable pottery tea set), the set of fountain pens that her dad gave her as a graduation gift - would surely find a place in her new home, and it wasn’t hard to let go of the excess. If anything, the exercise showed her how much needless “stuff” she really had. 

Now, her books. That would be a challenge to unpack. Collections of old literature, poetry, annotated copies of special favourites, signed copies of a few treasured keepsakes. Collections of essays, transcripts of lectures, and her guilty pleasures: Plateworld, Larry Botter, and the collected works of Adam Douglas. Non-fiction books on gardening, foraging and preserving would no doubt come in quite handily now that she was building herself a life on the land.

\--✽--

“I love you but you smell.” Nora scruffed behind McClane’s ear during her morning check-in with the animals. Kate had left a very sweet letter that said, in addition to about a million other things, that you do get used to the smell eventually. _Eventually_ you don’t notice it, which can be a good thing and a bad thing. Nora gave one of the cows a quick brush and got an affectionate nudge in response. “I like you too, you large mammal.” she said with a grin. This morning, like every morning that week, she collected flats of eggs, wire baskets filled with milk bottles, and even a duck feather, and was preparing to balance everything to take back to the house. 

With a glance towards her destination she saw a figure approaching the house, she used a hand to shade her eyes against the early morning sun to get a better look. A tall, thin man with a white truck that had a cover and ladder on the roof. She gave an awkward wave, imperceptible from the distance.

“Rob!” she called to the man from across the property. She wasn’t very good at yelling, he didn’t hear her. “Rob!” she hollered again pitifully. She picked up her haul and started lugging it towards the house, carefully latching the gate behind her. “Rob!!!” She tried to holler again as she approached. He saw her and started towards her to take some of the items off her hands.

“Coulda called out, I would’ve come and helped.” he said dryly. 

“I suppose I could have.” she replied.

“So this place is pretty nice. They went for a high-grade roofing system up there, you won’t need to replace that until after you’ve retired.” 

“That’s what the inspection report said. Good seal on the windows, solid foundation, and whoever built the additions onto this house was a craftsman. So the precedent is set.”

“And so it is.” 

“Could you take this lot to the shipping container over there?” she said, dragging about half of her haul indoors. “I’m only keeping what I can use to do one run of cheese, at least this week. I’ve been selling the rest, I don’t want to get in over my head any more than I am.” 

“Just leave it out there?”

“That’s right, the mayor will be by to pick it up later today.”

“The mayor?” 

“It’s… I don’t know, it’s a small town thing I think. He’s very hands-on, but he’s nice enough.”

Rob took the items to the bin and rejoined his sister in her kitchen. He had brought in a small stack of things from his truck. 

“Ah,” Nora sighed eyeing the parcels, “what have you brought me?”

“A care package from our dear old dad: a case of the good root beer, some red licorice, and a wool blanket from Marian. She’s become obsessed with the idea that you’ll get cold out here.”

“Bless.” It was the most wool-looking blanket she’d ever seen, and thought it would do well over the winter over top of a flannel (because it did look scratchy) and underneath the quilt Kate had left her.

“And from me, the gift of doughnuts and design drawings. There are a few options here, so we can look at them all and you pick which one works best. What’s the priority here?”

“Cream filling.” Nora said, grabbing the maple glazed cream filled doughnut from the black and white box.

“And with that business out of the way?” Rob took the old fashioned plain doughnut for himself.

“Kitchen island. More storage and counter space for prep.” 

“And if there’s any budget leftover?”

“There won’t be.” Nora replied between bites. “I need to see how cash flow goes for the first bit. The wifi seems to be alright out here so I should be able to take on some contract work over the winter. Coffee?” she started the kettle and grabbed her pour-over before he could answer. She set her doughnut on a plate and got to her cheese-making, which would be done before the kettle hit 96C. 

“Yes please. And Brauer will be ready to list soon. They’re staging it this week, photos on Thursday.” 

“Thank goodness, that’ll be a good chunk of change. What about East 18?” Nora started upstairs to the making-machines with the eggs and truffles. Rob followed her, bringing the drawings and the basket of milk bottles with him. 

“That one’s going to take a bit longer, found mould in the basement a while back so I’ve had to replace plumbing and everything else back to the studs. Finished re-framing part of the wall and got some concrete poured before the frost set in, but that’s going to eat into the profits too.”

“If we list at the end of winter or early spring it’ll pull a good profit” Nora said as she poured the milk into the cheese machines. “It’s a family area, good school nearby… people will be looking to move with a June/July closing.”

“I figured a retiree”

“Retirees are moving to condos in that part of town, they don’t want to be bothered with yard maintenance. Or they’re getting apartments and condos way down south to go for the winter months. No, data says prep East 18th for a family.”

“You got it boss.” Rob gave a little salute. “So we’ve got these drawings with the island, you wanna pick out finishes?” He offered her a booklet of samples, which she didn’t even glance at.

“Bright. Sort of a gallery white. Black countertops, maybe quartz? Something good for pastry and pasta making. Double sink where that window is, and add a sill for a kitchen herb garden. Maybe if a few of the cupboards have glass inserts I can display my pottery. And a lazy susan in the corner if you don’t mind.”

“Done.” Rob made notes and attached them to the drawing. “You know, if you wanted to we could do an addition off the kitchen. If you wanted a spare bedroom or to move all your kegs and stuff to be beside the kitchen instead of upstairs.”

“That might be useful. We can look into it once I've got a better idea of what the monthly cash flow looks like around here. I can look into permits though.” Nora said, cracking eggs into the mayo makers.

“That's the other thing: I looked in on the building codes here? They like… barely exist. You could build a whole subdivision on your property without needing permits or anything.”

“What?” Nora looked up at him, elbow deep in the mayo machine.

“Yeah… I’m kinda shocked. Basically as long as it meets building code, it doesn’t matter. You could build a smokehouse, a storage unit, a cabin...”

“Hmm… That’s really interesting. Having a separate building would make it easier and safer to offer a Share BnB.”

“Or seasonal workers. Would make the harvests a lot easier for you if you had help on-hand."

“What, you won’t come help your dear old sister pull in a few crops?”

“I’m helping my dear old sister by putting in a new kitchen at cost.” He opened his mouth to say something but hesitated. “Nora?”

“Hmmmm” she said, acknowledging without disrupting her process to prep the oil makers for the late autumn truffles.

“Just... “ he faltered. What can you say to a sister like Nora? She always had a plan, and a backup plan, and a backup to the backup plan. She would’ve prepared for weather, diminished crop yield, wild animal attacks, break-ins, sudden changes in health, and random infrastructural failure. “Just let me know if you need anything out here, ok?”

“Will do. Can you pass me that bottle? This oil is ready to roll.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! It's taken a while to get to the farm, but here we are finally. And I promise there is a point to all this background stuff. Soon we'll get to meet the townsfolk and see how Nora manages all of that business. Let me know what you think so far!
> 
> Also: I'll be posting a bonus chapter later today or tomorrow; a tidbit from Kate!


	5. Letters from Kate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora's letter from Kate, delivered upon taking ownership of Lerwick Farm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus chapter! I got it edited faster than I thought, so here it is. An actual letter - on paper - from Kate Islington.

\-- ✽ --

_Dear Nora,_

_Congratulations!! We are so excited that you are going to be joining this little community and taking over our beloved farm. You’re going to do well here, I can feel it._

_There are a few things that I wanted to let you know so that you can be prepared, or as prepared as possible because there is no preparing for some of the things you might experience during this new adventure._

_Firstly: this is your farm now! Your house, your animals, your buildings, your land. You own it. Add things, get rid of things, change things, make it yours! For the first year that I worked this land feeling like I owed it to my grandfather, that I had to keep things the way he would’ve wanted them, but that is no way to live. His shrine is in the corner and was a reminder of what I owed to him, but what I owed wasn’t to keep things the way they were, it was to grow things! And make this place my own, and make myself my own person in the process. So just as I couldn’t live in my grandfather’s shadow, please don’t live in ours. We want you to make this place your own and see what wonderful things can come of it._

_Secondly: don’t be afraid to ask for help. Shane’s Aunt Marnie still lives just south of the farm, she is a wiz with animals and can be there in a blink to help you with anything you need. Pierre knows the seeds and can help you to plan your growing season. Willy, who lives on the beach, is always looking for people to teach how to fish - and for new ears for all of his big fish stories! Get to know the people there, and if you’re stuck, ask for help. Don’t suffer alone. There are people who work wonders in the community and who can show you the way if you just ask._

_Thirdly: You can always ask us for help too! It might be a half hour drive, but Shane and I are always a phone call or text message away if you need any help or advice from people who have been there before. I know personally how hard it is to start a new life that is so, so different from where you’ve come from. Although you’ve got it a little bit easier than I had it because the farm has some upgrades, you’re also jumping RIGHT IN with two barns and coops nearly full of animals and facing a winter season soon. Call or text any time, we are here for you._

_Fourthly: The animals. You noticed a black chicken: don’t give the mayo from its eggs to anyone in-town, it’s disgusting. Keep some on hand, if you ever get to be good friends with Rasmodius make sure you take some to his place - but don’t give it to him, he doesn’t like it. Just trust me. The animal you’ll have the most trouble with is Bressay the goat, who has been known to bust down fences the odd time, so just be aware of that. You do get used to the smell eventually, it just becomes part of the landscape and you won’t notice it after a few weeks. Of course, that means that you should definitely shower before going to town, and keep dedicated work pants and boots! I used to take off my boots before even coming into the house, but I’m persnickety. If you’re persnickety too then you’ll appreciate the boot jack I left for you outside the door; it’s yours! Use it in good health._

_Finally: this community is so, so very special. There is a kind of magic here, it brings things together and makes things better. It shows us what we can be and do if we agree to put in the time and effort, if we all work together and give our best. You will come to love these people. I did! I’ve missed the ones who have left and those whom we have lost, and I know we will be missed too. Coming from the city, it is going to be seriously hard to adjust to small-town living, where everyone knows you and ALL of your business, but these people… they are the salt of the earth, truly. It will be important for you to meet them all and get to know them, make it a priority in your first couple of weeks there. That said, I WILL be back for visits! We’ll be coming around for the holidays sometimes - and staying at Marnie’s so we will be close by! I know we are going to be friends, I can tell._

_With gratitude, hope, and much much love,_

_Kate Islington & Shane Dwyer _

_P.S. I hope you don’t mind, I left you a few things to help you get started. You’ll find them in the storage bins outside. And in the kitchen. And in the basement. And also outside of the barns. Just some things to get you on your way._

_P.P.S. I made you a quilt, it will fit a queen sized bed but would also be good for snuggling on the couch! It’s in the chest in the bedroom. I also left you a chest in the bedroom for storage._

_P.P.P.S. I also left a few treats for you and the movers for when you get here. They’re in the kitchen with all of the food and things I’ve also left for you._

_P.P.P.P.S. You’re amazing and I already love you. Ok. That’s all. You’re amazing. You’re going to do great. Call anytime!  
_

\-- ✽ --

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A sincere thanks for the comments and the kudos! Your appreciation means the world to this dorky writer ^.^


	6. Figures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora runs some numbers and makes a dash into town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nora and Seb are the ones with the knowledge of coding; I have basic knowledge of HTML and CSS and didn't want to bother formatting the table at the beginning of this chapter any more than I did. But behold! - another epistolary-esque inclusion! (can a table be considered epistolary?) Anyways, in-world data! In-world slightly-changed references! AND in-world dorkery ahead.

###  **Lerwick Farm Revenue**

**Item**

| 

**#**

| 

**# of harvests**

| 

**$/item**

| 

**$ total**  
  
---|---|---|---|---  
  
Cranberries

| 

400

| 

2

| 

82g

| 

32,800g  
  
Corn

| 

24

| 

3

| 

55g

| 

3,960g  
  
Pumpkins

| 

60

| 

1

| 

352g

| 

21,120g  
  
| 

**#**

| 

**#/2 days**

| 

**$/item**

| 

**$ total**  
  
Milk

| 

8

| 

16

| 

285g

| 

(to cheese)  
  
Goats Milk

| 

4

| 

4

| 

517g

| 

(to cheese)  
  
Egg

| 

12

| 

24

| 

142g

| 

(to mayo)  
  
Duck Egg

| 

8

| 

8

| 

142g

| 

(to mayo)  
  
| 

**#/ batch**

| 

**# items/2 days**

| 

**$/item**

| 

**$ total /2 days**  
  
Cheese

| 

6 (3.3 hours)

| 

12 (2 batches)

| 

345g

| 

4,140g  
  
Goat Cheese

| 

4 (3.3 hours)

| 

4 (1 batch)

| 

600g

| 

2,400g  
  
Mayo

| 

6 (3 hours)

| 

24 (4 batches)

| 

285g

| 

6,840g  
  
Duck Mayo

| 

6 (3 hours)

| 

8 (2 batches)

| 

375g

| 

3,000g  
  
Jam

| 

6

| 

6 (3 days)

| 

200g

| 

1,200g  
  
Fruit (GH)

| 

18

| 

54 (3 days)

| 

3,045g/day

| 

9,135g  
  
Peppers (GH)

| 

116

| 

116 (3 days)

| 

60g

| 

6,960g  
  
| 

**/2-3 day batch**

| 

**Total/season**  
  
---|---|---  
  
From Outdoor Harvest

| 

To end of fall only

| 

57,880g  
  
From Greenhouse Harvest

| 

16,095g

| 

150,220g  
  
From Artisan Goods

| 

17,580g

| 

240,520g  
  
| 

**Total**

| 

**448,620g**  
  
“Huh.” Nora sat at the breakfast bar side of her kitchen island staring at her laptop in disbelief. She sipped at her coffee with one hand and tapped a pen on her notepad with the other. “Huh.”

It was a bit more than she was expecting. Quite a bit more. The cows and goats always filled large bottles of milk, the chickens laid large eggs. Despite her lack of experience in crafting things, she managed to use the high-quality ingredients to make very decent cheeses and mayo. (And the detailed video tutorials and troubleshooting guides that Kate created and emailed to her didn't hurt either.) She had done one full sweep of the farm, harvesting outdoor and indoor crops, and fell over when she got the cheque from Lewis the next day. At least she knew where she stood.

“I guess I can look into getting that cabin built, then.” she said to no one in particular.

She thought that it would be prudent to research which of the spring seeds were the most profitable and calculate how much gold she’d need to start up the growing season. That would mean a trip to the little shop in town, Pierre’s - and not only to get the figures from the seed catalogue. It had been over a week and she still hadn’t met anyone except Lewis. She remembered Kate’s recommendation to get out and get to know the townsfolk. The "should" of it had been weighing heavy.

She made a mental to-do list: “Pierre’s, meet townspeople, carpenter’s shop for cabin.”

She hopped into a long, hot shower to wash the farm off of her. She took her time to pick a casual outfit and fall jacket before heading out into the blustery afternoon.

A cobblestone walk came into view and as Nora crossed she saw a beautiful village square. A bespectacled man sat on a park bench nearby, within view were the pub and several colourful houses. A few steps away, a little clinic and Pierre’s general store. Nora could feel eyes on her as she approached the building - even more so as the dainty bell above the door twinkled with her entry.

“Farmer!” A middle-aged man called from behind the counter. He had greying brown hair and thin round glasses; he beamed as she approached the counter apprehensively. “You must be the new Kate. I’m Pierre Marchand, so nice to meet you.” He extended his hand, which she took. “That’s a firm handshake you’ve got there Ms…?”

“Nora Sherwood. It’s nice to meet you too.”

“We’ve been waiting for you to come on by! Kate’s already told us about all there is to know about you.”

“She did?”

“Goodness yes! Gus at the Stardrop has been waiting for you to drop by to give you a cup of tea and a maple bar. Kate says those are your favourites. And Marnie had a barn cat that she was going to bring by, but Katie says you’re allergic.”

“I am allergic.” Nora’s apprehension grew; she wondered how much of her conversations with Kate shared with the general population.

“Don’t be too put off by Kate’s enthusiasm. I know it can come across as a bit much. She wants to help everyone out and wants every last human, animal and plant on the planet to be happy. It’s just her way.”

“I’m getting accustomed to her way. It usually involves a lovingly hand-crafted trinket or a plate of cookies with a two-minute pep-talk and ten compliments.” Nora replied.

“That’s our Kate!” Pierre laughed . “Ah, we’ll miss her to be sure. Now, what is it that I can get for you today?”

“I’d like to look at the spring seed catalogue.”

“It’s pretty early to be worrying about spring seeds! Still, if you’d like an idea of prices I have some of last season’s catalogues here, let me duck into the back for a mo’.”

Pierre disappeared through a door on the far side of the room, and moments later a small horde of sweaty, red-faced women took his place. They were laughing breathlessly and chatting about a new exercise trend, but stopped when they saw Nora.

Nora began internally preparing herself for whatever reaction she was about to face.

Her anxious brain readied responses for:

\- anger that she hadn’t visited sooner

\- offense that she hadn’t visited sooner

\- regret that Kate had left

\- disappointment that she isn’t more like Kate

\- overwhelming generosity and welcoming

\- overwhelming pelting with questions

\- actual pelting with her own produce, and finally

\- ambivalence and/or antipathy.

“You MUST be Nora!!!” One of the older ladies said as she bounded towards her, arms outstretched. Although “overwhelming welcoming” was on the list, “sweaty hug” was not. The woman wrapped her arms right around and squeezed hard, rocking her back and forth.

“I’m Marnie! I’m Shane’s aunt, Kate’s Shane. Oh, it’s such a delight to meet you my dear! We have been so looking forward to making your acquaintance! And of course, Katie has told us all about you. Oh, let me introduce you to the girls: this is Caroline, she’s Pierre’s wife - oh, but where is he? He should’ve been here to greet you - and this is Jodi and Emily, Jodi’s boy is that teenager you see skateboarding in the town square, and Emily works at the Stardrop, they’re neighbours at the south side of town, and this is Pam - Pam drives the bus, and Robin, who is the wonderful carpenter who built most of your house and your coops and your barns and did all of the upgrading!! And usually our town Doctor is here, but Harvey must’ve taken the day off.”

Nora tried to remember everyone’s names, but stood wide-eyed, unsure of what to say.

“I’m, yes. Uh. I am Nora. It’s so... - so nice to meet you all. I’ve been looking forward to getting to know you. All of you. I’m glad to be here. Hello.” she stuttered out. “Thank you.”

Pierre reentered the room with a handful of brochures.

“I’ve got the summer catalogue too, if that would be useful.” He saw the gaggle around Nora and a sweaty body print on Nora’s trench coat. “Ah, Caroline dear, maybe get your class to take a couple steps back and let me serve my customer.”

“Oh you’re no fun, you old milksop...” said a green haired woman at the back of the bunch. There was an endearing tone clearly behind the menacing words.

Nora took the catalogues from Pierre with a thanks and also asked to buy the tote he had on display at the counter. The clatter of women had started to break off into smaller groups. The blonde haired middle-aged woman and the blue haired woman left with a wave. The woman with greying red hair stood examining a stand of squash. Nora was sure that Marnie had introduced her as Robin - just the person she was hoping to see. She approached her.

“Robin?” The woman looked up and smiled at Nora. She was in her 50s or early 60s, with the loveliest laugh lines around her mouth and eyes and strands of grey highlighting her coppery hair pulled back into a practical ponytail. She had a glow in her face from the exercise, but a genuine beaming countenance despite the sheen of the sweat. “I was hoping to talk with you today, actually. I was wondering about a new building for my farm?”

“Of course!” the woman looked thrilled. “Oh, I’m so glad to hear that. Yes, we can definitely talk about that.”

“Is there a good time for me to come by your shop?”

“Why don’t you give me an hour or so to get home and clean up and you can meet me there?”

“Sure. Where is ‘there’?”

“Right. Directions. I’m in the mountains. If you head east, you’ll see a staircase, go up and follow the path north. You can’t miss it. What are you looking for in particular? I can pull out some drawings. New coop? A shed?”

“Something like a cabin? My brother brought some drawings when he redid my kitchen, but he’s so busy…”

“Oh…” a couple of the people hushed and listened to their conversation. Nora shifted her weight. “What was wrong with the kitchen?”

“Nothing,” she stammered, “it was lovely. But I wanted lighter coloured cabinets and an island with a breakfast bar.”

“Ah.” Robin nodded. “Well, there’s no accounting for taste, right?” she smiled brightly at Nora, although the temperature in the room had changed. “You, me, architectural drawings, mountain. Half an hour.” She gave a wave to her friends and Pierre, and a winking finger gun to Nora on her way out the door.

Nora took her leave as well, although she distinctly heard one of the women’s voices say “Poor Robin” as she ducked out of the door.

She sat alone on the now-vacated park bench, the wind robbing the space of any warmth the sun would provide. She dug into her pocket for her phone and swiped a quick text.

**I think I may have made a bad first impression.**

She sighed and looked around. She knew she wasn’t good with first impressions. She wasn’t the awkward mess that she presented in Pierre’s, she was a confident, intelligent woman. She figured she was an acquired taste, or that she overthought social interactions. She was always too concerned about what people were thinking of her. She would be better one-on-one with Robin. She’d be better next time she met them all. This was the bandaid ripping off, that’s all. It would be fine.

Her phone twinkled with the tone she’d chosen for Kate - a fairy sound from an old video game that she played as a kid.

**No! They will all love you. What happened?**

**I met ALL the women (I think) after aerobics.**

**I was an awkward mess and said that Rob did my kitchen.**

**They looked like I had killed one of their pets.**

**Ohhhh… Yeah. No, you’ll be fine.**

**Robin hasn’t had a lot of business the last few years.**

**A bit of a boom when I moved in. A few projects after that.**

**She will LOVE you though. Don’t worry.**

**And you will LOVE her. She’s a firecracker.**

**I feel like an ass.**

**Don’t feel like an ass. You’ve got this.**

**I’m going to get her to build a cabin on the property.**

**OMG A CABIN! Why did I never think of that?!? 😍**

**She will love you for sure. That’s an easy win for both of you.**

**OK, I gotta go but you go get that cabin.**

**I love you. You’re amazing. 🦄**

Nora shook her head and smiled, tucking her phone back into her pocket. She had some time to kill, might as well look around the town and get acquainted with the area.

\-- ✽ --

Dusk began settling in. Earlier and earlier now, with winter right around the corner. The wind had put a chill into the air and there would be a rainstorm soon. He could feel the damp on his skin and a slight ache in the side of his head meaning that the pressure was dropping and the weather would change.

Sebastian didn’t mind the cold and outright enjoyed the rain, but wasn’t so crazy about the creaking and aching that came with getting older. Mid 30s and it already sounded like a cement mixer when he stood up from a coding session to stretch his back and arms. He stood by the lake in his usual haunt, cigarette between his teeth as he responded to a text from his friend.

**Sushi next week?**

**Maybe. Where you thinking?**

**Me & P found this great new place.**

**You gotta try it.**

**They serve you the sushi ON A SWORD**

**Sounds gimmicky.**

**It sounds OMAZE.**

**You just can’t feel joy. FEEL THE JOY SEB.**

**SUSHI ON A SWORD, WHAAAAT!! 🍣 ⚔️ 😸**

Sam was a large 15 year old who happened to be in his 30s. Sebastian typed a “we’ll see” and moved his attention back to his cigarette.

He wasn’t jealous of his friend. Sam had always been the outgoing one, the adventurous one. Sebastian had always been more quiet and careful. When Penny left for the city to go to college, Sam followed her. And just like that, the two of them were living the life that Sebastian had imagined for himself. But it suited Sam: he was the life of any party, liked trying new things, going new places. Sebastian wasn’t like that, he liked the comfort of the familiar. The predictability of routine was a little maddening, but it was easier to go with the flow.

He wasn’t jealous when his sister left to go to University, or when she stayed to finish her Masters and take a research fellowship. It actually made life at home a bit easier. Although their relationship healed a bit as they matured, it was even better for them to have the space apart. They texted and didn’t have the proximity to get on each other’s nerves all the time.

He wasn’t jealous. He didn’t want to move to the city anymore. He had his own business, he made lots of money, he was successful. The city was noisy and expensive and full of people. It didn’t suit him. He didn’t know what suited him, but the city wasn’t it and he could stay where he was until he figured it out, thanks anyways.

The sound of someone approaching made Sebastian snap his head up. His mum had gotten back a while ago and he wasn’t expecting anyone else. A woman in dark jeans and a trench coat with long hair pulled into a ponytail approached the house. She knocked. No one was going to answer. His mum was in the shower after her aerobics class and Demetrius stayed up in his lab all day trying to finish one of his trials.

He didn’t recognize the woman, but figured she must be the new farmer. She looked pretty much like Kate had described. Tallish, brown hair, black glasses. Kate had also used the words “magnificently beautiful” and “the human equivalent of a gorgeous, nerdy unicorn”, but Sebastian had ignored those parts. That was just Kate being Kate. She’d called a mussel magnificently beautiful once, so it was hard to gauge based on her opinion.

The wind blew a torrent around her and caused the hair from her ponytail to whip her in the face. She extracted a chunk that flew right into her mouth and tucked the entirety of the ponytail into the neck of her coat, muttering to herself. She looked up at the house and knocked again, waiting patiently with her hands in her pockets against the bitter wind.

Sebastian stubbed out what was left of his cigarette and started towards her.

“Hey, you the new farmer?”

She startled at his voice but smiled and nodded as he approached.

“Waiting on the lady of the house?”

“Yeah, we’re looking at blueprints.” she replied. Her hair came untucked from her jacket as she turned her head and whipped into her face again, blowing into her mouth as she spoke. She spat it out with a _fplhtplflphtplhft_ “Bleh, sorry… I’m Nora.”

“Sebastian. I’m her son.” He brushed past her to open the door and held it open for Nora. “Robin’s probably going to be a little while. You want a coffee? Or tea?”

“Oh my god I would love a cup of tea right now.” she rubbed her hands trying to warm up, a pink from the chill flushing across her cheeks, nose, and ears. She followed him as he walked down a hallway to a small kitchen - just large enough for a couple cabinets, fridge, and small table with two chairs.

“You got it.” He started the kettle.

_How’s it been so far. Where are you from. What sort of things do you like to do. What made you want to move here. Have you met everyone in town yet_... All perfectly good conversation starters that Sebastian did not use, instead standing in awkward silence next to the stainless steel kettle as it started with a hiss. Nora blew into her hands still trying to get warm, and admired the craftsmanship evident in every personal touch in the house.

“Really embracing the woodland aesthetic.” she said, examining all of the various trims, crownings, baseboards and mouldings within sight.

He wanted to say something smart assy about the number of trees that were sacrificed just to make the wainscotting in the halls. Instead he laughed a bit through his nose and nodded, internally kicking himself for being so damned awkward.

Nora fought the urge to bring out her phone and scroll through it. She refused to use the infernal device as a crutch and make another crummy first impression. She could give chit chat one more shot. She’ll do the chit, and if he didn’t want to chat then he didn’t want to chat. But no one could say she didn’t try.

“What do you do for a living around here?”

Sebastian looked at her skeptically. People had one of two reactions to his job. They either said “oh, that’s nice.” or they launched into him for not having a real job, still living in his mother’s basement, not having a “real life”, etc. etc. etc. He guessed she belonged to the former.

“I own my own business. I’m a programmer.”

“Oh, that’s awesome. What language do you use?”

“Python mostly, Java, and C#, I can make my way with C and C++.”

“Oh wow, look at you. That’s a well-rounded resume. I just stick to Ruby and PHP. Tried learning C# but that didn’t go well.”

Sebastian perked up.

“Yeah, C# is a bit of a step up complexity-wise from R and PHP, there’s a steep learning curve but if you’ve already got experience it’s easier to get the hang of…” he defied his own expectations of himself and asked a follow-up question. “What made you interested in C#?”

“I thought it would be good for work, the integration with the .NET library was a major selling point, thought that if my whole team could learn it that it would increase overall functionality.”

“It would. What kind of work?”

“I’m an actuary. Er, I was an actuary. I was a corporate actuarial manager, specialized in predictive analytics.”

“Oh man. How did you get from there to farming?” Sebastian was on a roll with the socializing. Nora exhaled at the question and slightly shook her head.

“Corporate culture.” She looked at him over the top of her black cats-eye glasses as the kettle started bubbling and whistling.

“Amen.” Sebastian grabbed two mugs, a single serve pour over and a tea strainer. “What kind of tea?”

“A regular black tea would be fine.”

“English Breakfast ok?”

“Yes, thanks.”

Nora’s phone dinged with Kate’s twinkling notification tone. Sebastian checked his phone and seeing no notifications put it back down. He raised an eyebrow upon seeing Nora checking her phone too.

“Oh, that was yours?”

“Yeah, that’s Kate, actually.” Nora checked her message.

**Let me know how things go today!**

**Will do 👍**

“That’s funny, I use the same notification sound for my sister. We used to play Fable of Hilda all the time when we were kids.” Sebastian grinned at the memory.

“My brother and I wore the prongs out of the cartridge - literally. Had to buy a second copy. Probably would’ve held up better if we weren’t always switching between Hilda and Definitive Reverie 6.”

“OHHH!!” Sebastian’s eyes grew wide at the mention of the game, “I played the hell out of DR6!! But DR7 was, excuse the pun, the definitive work of my adolescence.”

“DR7 was the first game we had for the FunStation! We got to the end of disc 2 and just stayed there for months, getting the diamond dragonhorse, levelling up Cavaliers of the Realm… took us forever to decide to go for the big bad.”

“That was a hell of a final boss. The character design, the cinematics, the attacks… Ugh, that song! It’s legendary. It’s what made me want to make video games.” Sebastian said, completely abandoning his coffee.

“That whole soundtrack! Seriously, Naganori Uchida is a genius. Agneth’s theme is my cell phone ring tone. I want it played at my funeral.”

“I don’t usually collect merch or anything, but I have a replica of the Blitzer Sword in my room; limited edition, signed by Uchida.”

“Yeah, I’m going to need to see that at some point.”

“I can show you like, right now.”

“Um, yes please!”

Tea, coffee, and blueprints forgotten, the two 30-something super nerds gleefully retreated into the basement of the house. The tea was still sending up ribbons of steam when Robin came out of her room, hair damp and clothes changed into her regular cargos, work shirt and vest.

“Nora? Did I hear you in there? Sorry, I took a bit longer than I --” she peeked into the kitchen and saw the two still-steaming mugs on the counter. “Sebby? You left your coffee...” Robin ducked into her shop front, but seeing it darkened and empty she turned back. “Hmm…”

She started to descend the staircase but stopped at a sharp noise and a clatter.

“Oh shit…” Sebastian’s voice came sharply.

“Careful! It’s a big room, but it’s a BIG sword.” came a woman’s voice.

“Sorry Nora, it didn’t hit you, did it?”

“No, just your miniatures. Here, here’s two… oh, there’s one under your server.”

“Thanks… I think I’m missing a mage…”

“Right here. Oh Sebastian, did you paint this?”

“Heh, yeah…”

“That's some really nice detail work.”

“Thanks.”

“But she took 3 piercing damage from your attack.”

“Only 3???”

“It’s a replica sword.”

“Well they’re replica people!!!”

Robin’s face softened to a smile. She turned and quietly crept back up the stairs, deciding that the drawings would keep for another day.

\-----

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I've outlined up to chapter 15, and written up to - I think - Chapter 11. I know where I want the fic to go, but I've also got some fun scenes in my head that I want to find homes for. It might mean a couple of fluffy, slice-of-life-esque chapters.
> 
> Thanks for your kind comments & kudos! You guys are the best!


	7. People, In Theory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cold coffee and bitter words.

The autumn sun came pouring in through the lace curtains, and the smell of breakfast sizzled through the farm house. The cheese and mayo machines churned with activity and the harvested produce was already on its way to town. The second cranberry harvest would come in soon - just in time for everyone’s harvest dinners, and the pumpkins would be ready for the Spirits Eve festival. Nora bustled about the kitchen, lifting her bacon on to a paper towel lined plate and turning the heat off of her scrambled eggs. The toast was buttered and topped with her own plum preserve. The coffee was hot and it was good. The choring was done, all animals checked, breakfast ready and it was only after 10am.

There was a whole sunny Wednesday in front of her. Full of possibilities.

She sat with her breakfast and coffee and a book of ZCT Sunday crosswords. A knock at the door interrupted her mid-bite. Nora wiped her hands on a tea towel and saw through the window that it was Robin and that she was very encumbered with long rolled up tubes of paper. 

“Good morning! Oh, thank you!” she said cheerfully as Nora gathered a few of the tubes and invited her into the house. “I thought I’d bring these buy, and that we could pick a spot at the same time. Then we can get started whenever you’re ready.”

‘I’m ready today if there’s a suitable drawing. Can I get you something to eat?”

“Oh no, I’ve already eaten thanks. I wouldn’t say no to a coffee though. Black.” Nora grabbed a second mug and filled it with the warm brew. “I do have to say, this kitchen looks very nice. Your brother did a great job.”

“Yeah… he did.” Nora handed Robin her coffee and sat at the island as Robin sorted out the blueprints.

“Ok, so there are a few options here, depending on how fancy you’d like it to be. And if we choose a simpler design we can always upgrade later if you want to.”

“Let’s go simple to start. Open concept, one room plus facilities.”

“There are three one-room cabins we can look at, and it just depends on what kind of material you’d like to use. If you like a kind of medieval look, we can use stone. We can do logs, that’s one of my specialties, or we can do wood planks.” Robin unfurled a floor plan with a generous single-room layout. 

“I like the stone one, but the plank cabin looks so cheerful.”

“We can always build a second one if you decide” Robin said with a wink. “Go with whichever one you like best.”

“I want it to look cheerful for sure. It would be for a place for my family to stay when they visit, or for a Share BnB, or in the summer/fall I might hire some farm hands from the north country to come and stay for a few weeks to help bring in the harvest.”

“Share BnB?” Robin was quizzical. “Farm hands from north country?”

“Yes, or from the islands. There are some farms up north that hire internationally, our currency goes a long way in other countries and there are lots of people who are looking for good work.”

“There are people looking for good work here.” Robin was terse. “Vincent would help out, Alex is always looking for a bit of extra cash, hell the old man in the tent by my house is still in good enough shape, he could probably bring in a harvest all on his own.”

“Oh, I…”

“People are leaving the town for jobs, Nora. There aren’t many opportunities around here unless you fish or farm. You farm, and you want farm hands, but you’re going to outsource? Nobody moves here because there are no jobs, there are no jobs because businesses don’t open, businesses don’t open because nobody lives here.”

“I’m an actuary, Robin, I know how the economy works”

“You know the economy, you know the formula, you don’t know this community. You don’t know the impact.”

“I mean, I researched, I thought I had all the data…”

“The data?” Robin shook her head, “Use your eyes, Nora. Use your heart. People are _leaving_ because there’s nothing here, no opportunities. And the people who stay have no place to live, no jobs. There’s nothing.”

Nora took a breath and sat in silence. She banished the feeling of embarrassment and shame with a deep breath and a nod.

“Ok. I will reconsider. I’d still like the cabin. The plank one. You can start tomorrow.” She went to her purse and dug out an envelope with gold that she’d set aside for the project. “I hope 150 gold is enough.”

“It’s only 100 gold.” Robin turned pink and cast her eyes to the wall. 

“Add some mouldings or a chair rail if you need to. Thank you. I’m sorry to rush you out, but I need to finish my breakfast and I have some paperwork to do.” Nora rose and moved to the door as she spoke, opening it for her guest.

“Oh… right. I didn’t mean to interrupt…” Robin stood and gathered the drawings.

“The building supplies that you need are in the brown chest by the shipping container, there’s more than enough. Take whatever you need.” 

“Of course. I’ll start tomorrow morning. First thing.”

“Thank you. I’ll be here if you need anything.” Nora shut the door quietly and returned to her tepid coffee and cold eggs. She scarfed them back and opened her laptop.

“What did I miss?” she thought out loud. “The data I had made it look like everything was fine except the rate of growth… which was a housing problem, not an employment problem…” she poured over the tables she had put together and the calculations she’d gotten from her models. “What did I miss?”

Was it the model? It would have been nice to send it to Sebastian for his input, as both someone who is familiar with coding and as a resident, he might have some valuable input. But she hadn’t gotten his phone number the night before, and he might not be thrilled with her once word got out about her apparently dooming the whole town. 

Ugh, the town… It was really difficult for her not to feel like a complete failure. Kate had been the town’s patron saint, everybody’s best friend, the freight train that never stopped making things or doing or helping. And here Nora had barely been in town a few weeks and was already a pariah. 

This must be what Kate was talking about, the small town thing. A terrible flash told Nora that maybe she’d made a mistake, but she dismissed it. She didn’t make mistakes, only miscalculations. 

“I just got here.” her inner monologue railed bitterly while she examined her tables, “Like it’s my fault that there’s no jobs, no place to live. She’s been here her whole life, maybe _she_ should hire some people. Maybe _she_ should be building some houses so that people _have_ places to live or buildings where people can _run_ a business… but no, it’s my fault for wanting some help around the farm and not realizing that they need jobs here. Can’t just give people the benefit of the doubt, gotta jump down peoples’ throats…” Pure poison. 

She scanned the data again, scanned the model again. 

Was it the data? Data can obscure things. Just because someone is employed full time doesn’t mean that it’s meaningful or sustainable employment, and if part-time employment is reported as merely “employed”, well that’s probably not going to be enough for a living wage… The data she had was from an entire catchment, not specifically for the town, was it being hidden by a more prosperous surrounding area? 

“Maybe Robin was right,” she thought. 

She’d been relying on research that someone had conducted using convenient parameters, or outdated geopolitical boundaries, or inefficient models or snowball-style methodologies. She wasn’t as warm or bubbly as Kate was, she wasn’t as thoughtful and she didn’t know the town or the people as well as Kate did, but she could still help. She had sworn she would be an engaged citizen, that if she could make the move she would use her skills as Kate did - to improve the town and life for the community.

“I’m proactive.” she thought to herself. “I’m intelligent, I have connections, I have resources. I can still help.”

“This calls for _primary_ research.” she said confidently, missing the point entirely. 

* * *

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC TRENDS IN PELICAN BAY AREA

Nora Sherwood, MMath - Actuarial Science

INTRODUCTION

While extant research and census data seems to imply that the economy and population of the Stardew Valley region is stable and trending at or just below the national average for catchment areas of a similar size, the realities of the townships within the broader region seem to fall exceedingly short. While this may represent merely a single point of outlying data in a broader study, it presents undesirable implications for residents of those townships. 

This study will seek to address the following queries:

  1. What is the current data for the Pelican Bay area [Pelican Town; Beach; Mountain; Cindersnap Forest], and where does this place in relation to regional and national trends?
  2. What are the challenges that residents of the Pelican Bay area face? 
  3. What interventions could be put into place to mitigate or alleviate those challenges?
  4. How could those interventions be quantifiably measured to determine their effectiveness?



Extant data includes:

  * published census information from 2016, 2011, and 2006. 
  * regional labour market studies.
  * regional housing studies.



Possible data collection includes:

  * Pelican Bay resident survey.
  * Municipal data from the mayor’s office, e.g. birth, marriage, death, migration, taxes, etc.
  * Historical data from the local archives.
  * Tourism data from regional economic development office.
  * Quantitative study for residents, nearby residents, tourists, visitors and expats.



This research should establish a current snapshot of the realities of living and working in Pelican Bay, pull and push factors, economic forces, and … … 

* * *

Nora’s typing trailed off. She reviewed the introduction of the proposal tapping her nails on the laptop case. The proposal was fine. It was focused, relevant, realistic, well-researched and with avenues for more research-gathering, but it didn’t sit right.

She remembered a conversation from the previous night in the mountains. The dim light from Sebastian’s tabletop lamp was the only illumination in his basement quarters. They sat on the floor looking through old campaign notes Sebastian had kept from Solarion Chronicles and Gorgons and Grottos. He looked up from a self-drafted map with a pause. 

_“What made you choose the valley?” he asked. She shrugged slightly._

_“I was fed up, needed a change. I thought this would be transformative or something.”_

_“Has it been?”_

_“I’ve been here for a hot minute, we’ll see I guess.” she laughed. “Have you always lived here?”_

_“Yeah, I was born here, my mum was born here, her mum was born here.”_

_“That’s my family too, but with the city. I’m like, 5th generation and the first one to leave.”_

_“It seems so weird, leaving the city to come here. It would feel like a step backwards to me.”_

_“Did you ever want to leave?” she asked._

_“Oh, when I was younger I couldn’t wait to get out. I was going to get a full time developer job, move to the city, and make the next video game killer app.”_

_“What stopped you?”_

_“Ah, a bunch of things… couldn’t save up enough to move, couldn’t get permanent employment remotely without experience, took forever to save up enough to start my own business, and by that point I had kind of settled in. A few of my friends left, that’s been hard.”_

_“Do you think you’ll move now?”_

_“You know, I don’t really think about leaving anymore. This place is special, and it needs help. I think I can make it better, you know?”_

Nora looked at her research proposal. She saved the file just in case, but left it incomplete. Use your heart, Robin had said. She went to her bookshelf and dug the letter from Kate out of her keepsake box, going through the many-paged document to find the passage she was looking for:

_“... this community is so, so very special. There is a kind of magic here, it brings things together and makes things better. It shows us what we can be and do if we agree to put in the time and effort, if we all work together and give our best. You will come to love these people.”_

“ _This place is special… I can make it better, you know_?” Sebastian’s words echoed. 

The words swam through her head, one phrase after another: Put in the time, put in the effort. This place is special. Work together, give it your best. Make it better. 

“Ugh” she sighed, “What have I gotten myself into…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small towns, man... 
> 
> I've hit a smidge of writers block. I've got up to chapter 11 written, I've started chapter 12 but I'm stuck - surprise surprise - on the smutty bits. If anyone has any pointers, feel free to shout out!  
> Hoping that I'll bust through the block in the next few weeks so I can keep up with the weekly updates!  
> Take care everyone, much love <3


	8. Comparative Analysis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How can anyone even measure up to Kate? Would you want to if you could?  
> Nora mends fences, builds cabins, and learns more about her new home.

It was perfectly warm and perfectly dark; the only sound was the wind in the trees and against her house. Nora snuggled under the blankets having a wonderful dream. 

_ She was in her old high school and found a room that was supposed to be the change room and entered. Instead of the typical lockers and benches and showers, it was an impossibly long darkened hallway lined with doors that led to apartments. Each door was marked with a number and some of the doors were different colours. A purple door caught her eye; she approached it and put her ear against it to listen: she heard what sounded like a group of friends having fun. She made a move to open it but it was locked. She checked her pockets, but didn’t have the key. She knocked politely.  _

_ A series of hard, sharp knocks came from the other side. Startled, she jumped back. She examined the door, wondering what the source of the knocking could be. It shook with another round of hard pounds, and then another. _

Nora’s eyes flew open. The dim of a late fall morning filled her room with a blue haze. She sat up and shook her head at her dream, quickly taking her notebook from beside her bed and jotting down a brief note: “long  _ hallway, apartments, purple door, ghostly knocking _ . _ ” _ She replaced the notebook and put on her glasses. She jumped with a sharp start when she heard the pounding noise coming from outside her house. Nora bolted out of bed and grabbed her shawl, peeking outside to see what the danger was.

Robin stood several meters away, the frame of a cabin taking shape in front of her. Nora sighed - both in relief and amazed by her own absent-mindedness. Robin was starting construction today. She shook her head as she popped on the kettle for coffee and returned to her room to get dressed. She crossed off “ghostly knocking” from her dream notes. 

\---

“Coffee?” Nora held out a thermos to the carpenter as she was retrieving more nails from her belt. Robin jumped with a start.

“Oh hey! Yes, thank you.” she accepted the thermos and unscrewed the top. “Do you have any sugar?”

“I put one in already. I guessed.”

“Good guess.” Robin took a sip and looked around the farm pensievely. “I’ve spent a lot of time building things here, you know. That silo, both barns and the coop… the farmhouse was just a single room when Kate got here, I built every extension on that old place.” she took another sip.

“And a lot of the furniture inside, too.” Nora added. “I could tell. The table and chairs looked like the ones in your kitchen.”

“Yes ma’am. You’ve got a good eye.” 

The women stood in silence. 

“I’ll let you get back to it. I’ll be heading into town after I’m done chores, let me know if you need anything.” Nora headed towards her coop.

“Hey. Nora.” Robin called. Nora turned. “I’m… I’m really sorry for unloading on you yesterday. You didn’t deserve that. I am frustrated, there’s so much here that needs to be fixed, but you’re brand new… it’s not your fault and I’m sorry I took it out on you.”

“I know.” Nora nodded. “But thank you. I’m… I’m glad that we can be friends.” Nora put an understanding grin on her face and carried on to the coop. She heard Robin resume her hammering as she ducked inside.

“Alright, ladies, what have we got today?”

\---

There wasn’t much relief from the cold in the library. The large, chilly building had a fireplace burning somewhere she could tell, but felt no benefit from it upon her entry into the space. She reviewed the productivity app in her phone, where she had stored her checklist:

**People I already know:**

  * **Mayor Lewis**



  * **Sebastian**


  * Robin


  * Pierre


  * Green haired lady (Pierre’s wife?)


  * Marnie


  * Green haired lady’s friend


  * Blue haired lady



**To do:**

  * **Meet everyone**



  * **Learn everyone’s names**


  * Find likes and dislikes


  * Learn town history


  * Join in on celebrations and events


  * Develop system to track progress



A trip to the library, museum and archive would make quick work of the town history piece.

A couple of people sat among the stacks and in a far room that must be part of the museum, and a man in an ostentatious blue suit and hat with long hair and pointed goatee streaked in grey stood behind the desk. 

“Can I help you?” his gravelly voice was low in the hushed room as she approached.

“Local history?” 

The man pulled a drawer of cards open from behind the desk, glancing over his shoulder at her as he spoke.

“You must be the new farmer. Ms. Sherwood, is it not?”

“That’s correct.”

“Your predecessor at the farm is almost solely responsible for making this museum a reality.” he filed through the cards, “Nearly every artifact I have in here she found herself, either stumbled across it in her field, found it fishing, or dug it up from who knows where.”

“Oh.” 

“Yes, she was a real friend of the museum and library. Found a lot of the bulletins and farming tips that are laying around. You might be interested in reading them at some point.”

“I might.” Nora shifted uncomfortably.

“Here it is. This is the history of the area up until about 15 years ago, written by Mr. Islington himself in his twilight years. It’s painfully out of date though.” he shook his head as he wrote the reference number on a scrap of paper. “It won’t have the rejuvenation of the community centre, the rise and fall of Joja Corp in Pelican Bay, the rebirth of the public transit system…”

“Are we discussing the gallant deeds of our beloved Kate the Great?” a voice came from behind Nora. A tall man with long auburn hair wearing a green waistcoat and deep burgundy jacket stood behind her, a literal quill and sheaf of parchment under his arm. “She inspired me to complete my book. I never could have done it without her, she believed in me when I scarcely believed in myself. She fixed the bridge by my home… heavens, she and Robin completely reconstructed my waterfront home into the dear little cottage it is after that storm decimated my writer’s shack. I’m Elliott, my dear madam. And there is no need to introduce yourself, word has already spread far and wide about the new farmer.”

“Oh.” Nora repeated. She took out a pocket notebook and jotted a few notes as the two men reminisced.

“She helped us all,” Gunther added, handing the paper to Nora. “She fixed the bridge to the quarry, she helped me to renovate a small quarters in this building where I could live, she helped Evelyn and Alex after George passed…”

“She assisted my dear friend Leah in hosting her first ever public art exhibition. She also aided Emily in opening up her own clothing therapy business, for those who need such inspiration.” he adjusted his cravat with his free hand with a flourish.

“And the complete turnaround on Mr. Dwyer… He was a sick man. I heard all about his episodes at the Stardrop from Ms. Penny, and his episodes at home from Ms. Jas. But Kate, she gave him love and support when he needed it, gave him hell when he needed it too, and if the man didn’t start down his own road to recovery. There were some dark days I tell you, word spreads and all, but he made the choice to get the help he needed. You can hardly recognize the man anymore.”

“She used to give me the feathers from her ducks!” Elliott interjected. “And I do miss the lobsters from her pots… goodness, how I long for a lobster bisque on a chilling day such as this.”

“Anyways Ms. Sherwood, you will find what you need in that book. Borrowing periods are 21 days, late fees are 1 gold each week.”

“Thank you Gunther, I may have gotten what I need for now. I’ll come back for this one another day.” She took the slip and tucked it into her tote before she headed to the door.

\---

She wasn’t jealous of Kate - Kate was a wonderful person and a good friend. But how on earth did she manage to give so much to - and DO so much for - so many people? Did she ever do anything for herself? Or was every waking hour devoted to one (or more) of farming, mining, animal care, running errands for the people in the town, completing municipal infrastructure projects… What did she do that was just for her? Did she even have any hobbies that weren’t directly related to industry or helping others?

“I can fix things… I  _ have _ fixed things.” she muttered to herself, “But I can’t be that person.”

She passed the derelict JojaMart and crossed the bridge, heading towards the mountain pass. She had a duty to integrate into the community, and she could figure out what that was supposed to look like. She kicked a stone along the path as she muttered, outlining some of the things she could do to make a difference:

“I could come up with a project… find a way to get better internet service out here, I could help write an application for a grant to do a more targeted study, I could … oh.” she looked back over her shoulder and down the mountain at the rundown Joja Mart and had a flash. “I could do that…”

“Could do what?”

Nora jumped back and scanned her surroundings, hand flying instinctively to her keys. Sebastian stood by the lake grinning, phone in-hand and a cigarette hanging from his lips.

“Don’t DO that!!” 

“Do what? Assume that you’re talking to me instead of yourself, crazy lady?”

“Don’t… pop out of darkened corners and scare people who are clearly in their own train of thought. Make yourself known, you ghoul!”

“Ah, that’s no fun.” He approached her, sticking his phone in his pocket. “How’s it been going?”

“Honestly? The farm is great. This town is…” she shook her head.

“Yeah, I know. I have been there. I  _ live  _ there. Literally.”

“I didn’t realize how much help this place needed. And Kate… How could I possibly measure up to Kate?”

Sebastian snorted.

“Ah, Kate.  _ Everyone _ loved Kate.”

“You didn’t like her?”

“I liked her fine. She joined in on Solarion Chronicles once or twice. I just didn’t understand her at all. She was very… enthusiastic.”

“She is that.” Nora sighed. “I’ll never be able to replace her. I’m not selfless enough. I don’t have enough energy, I don't know the people here well enough...” she mused. “I need to get out and actually make friends with everyone. Get to know them, figure out how I can help get this place what it needs.”

“Why? You just got here, you don’t owe us anything.”

“I know, but when I moved here it was like an escape. Kate helped me, and I don’t want to come here and just take up space. I want to help. I feel like it’s my duty to help.”

“You know, don’t need to replace her; we don’t need another Kate.” 

“Well, what do you need, then...” 

“Me? Could go for a burger.” he took a final drag on his cigarette and stubbed out the rest in the dirt, throwing the butt into a coffee can by the tree. “You want a burger?”

Her stomach growled at the question. She placed a pitiful hand over top of her tummy and grumbled at the gurgle.

“I could probably go for a burger.”

“Awesome. Been to the Stardrop yet?”

“Not yet.”

“Let’s go then. And hey. Don’t worry about trying to be like Kate. You can still help, you’ll find your own way.”

“I’m just...” she started as he led the way down the mountain path. “I made this big change and it feels like I’m not where I’m supposed to be.”

“Wherever you are is where you’re meant to be.” 

“That’s very philosophical.”

“With age comes wisdom.” Sebastian shrugged.

“Well, I think I may have come up with my own way. Sort of. It’s kinda riffing off of what Kate already did. Could I go over my idea with you?”

“Sure. Just make sure you don’t end up being Kate 2.0, alright? This town wouldn’t have enough coffee to sustain you.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know where I want to take this fic; there's a wee bump in the narrative a few chapters ahead, but I'm confident we'll get through it.
> 
> Keep safe, friends. Much love from my screen to yours.


	9. Neighbours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora's got a pitch, Seb gives her a push.

The Stardrop was jumping by the time Sebastian and Nora walked in. Nora could pick out a few familiar faces: Marnie and the Mayor sat sipping wine at a table; Elliott observed and wrote on a scratchpad on his cocktail table; Robin danced with a man Nora figured to be her husband. Sebastian strode up to the bar and ordered two burgers from the blue haired lady by the taps.

“Anything to drink?” she asked.

“Uh, root beer for me. Nora?”

“Same. Thanks.” 

Nora spotted an open table in the far corner and gestured for them to sit. Sebastian unloaded his coat on the back of the chair and settled in as their drinks and food arrived. 

“Alright. Let’s hear this idea.”

“Well, Robin hasn’t had a ton of business lately -” Nora dug into her burger, hungrier than she’d imagined.

“Very true. She’s losing it. She’s going to start making furniture for the forest creatures any day now, I can feel it…” Sebastian said. Nora laughed as she ate. “I’m serious. When I walked by her laptop I saw a Moogle search for ‘squirrel rocking chair’. I’m concerned.” He dug into his own burger.

“Right.” Nora quieted her laughter. “Well, she hasn’t had a lot of patronage - outside the woodland creatures - and there aren’t a lot of places to work around here - everything is a family business or small one-man show like yourself.”

“Also true. As much as I hate to admit it, Joja was the last place that actually employed people. Gus has got Emily here, and that’s about it.”

“Emily, right.” she took out her notepad and wrote down  _ Emily  _ next to ‘ _ blue haired lady’  _ on her list. “And the old Joja Mart is just sitting there decaying.”

“Long may they live to feel their loss.”

“...right. But the building is empty and gross.”

“And how.” Sebastian discarded the straw from his root beer and took a sip from the glass.

“So why don’t we do something with it?”

“Who? Us?”

“Well, me. And you if you want to help, and your mum… it could be a town effort.”

Sebastian leaned back in his chair and pondered for a moment.

“Here’s the thing: You will never get the town to agree on what it should be. It would go to a community meeting, and then there’d be a committee, and instead of the horse you’d planned on you’d end up with a camel with wheels and nightly laser shows at 8 and 10.”

“Well, how did Kate do it then?”

“Kate didn’t ask. She just did stuff.”

“Oh. And people were ok with that?”

“Apparently. But Kate could do no wrong around here. She could’ve opened up a brothel and Lewis would have praised her for increasing tourism.” 

Nora choked slightly on her root beer; he continued.

“What are you thinking of turning it into?”

“I was thinking maybe a school.” Sebastian snorted at the suggestion.

“Ah yes, a school. For all the many children around here." he gestured with wide arms. "What else you got.” 

Nora flipped through her notebook. 

“Artisan’s Market.”

“The crafters all run business out of their own homes. I don’t think they’d want the overhead. Next.”

“Furniture store.”

“Robin’s got that covered.”

“Right… Electronics store.”

“You know we have an actual blacksmith, right? Folks out this way are pretty old fashioned.”

“Movie theatre”

“... Now there’s an interesting idea.” Nora brightened at Sebastian’s approval.

“It would accomplish a few of the needs I identified for the town from a development perspective: employment opportunities, leisure activity, infusion of culture. It doesn’t really boost tourism, industry, or skills development, but it’s definitely a start.”

“Hmmm… so what’s the first step?” Sebastian was interrupted by Gus, who arrived at the table with a small plate of pastries.

“Ms. Sherwood? Gus Poulopopoulos, owner and operator of the Stardrop. So pleased to finally meet you! Kate told us so much… I hope you don’t mind, I put together a little tray of maple bars for you, Kate said they’re your favourite and Kate was my favourite, so here - from me to you, for you to enjoy.” 

“Thank you! That’s really thoughtful”

“And I hope it’s not too presumptuous, but I could also offer you a cup of tea. Kate says you’re a fan of tea as well.”

“I am indeed.”

“I got a good assam blend, the finest estate tea for my newest customer. Can’t having you miss those big city comforts, eh?”

“That’s more than generous. Thank you Gus, that’s very gracious.” Gus waved off her compliments.

“We all want you to feel at-home here. Kate says you’ve been through the wringer. A lot of folks end up here after a spate of bad luck… I can’t go into details of course, bartender-client privilege and all, but you’ll find a few of the transplants have stories like your own, and they’ve made this place home. If you haven’t already met, Elliott over there is a transplant from the city like you. He’s a writer, a good friend of Kate’s.”

“I’ve met Elliott, actually.” she replied, partially covering her mouth - still somewhat full of maple bar - with her hand. “He seems pretty nice.”

“And Dr. Harvey over there, he’s from the city - well, from a city - northern man - St. Brigid’s I think, where the med school is. He’s always glad to see a new face.”

“You did say you should meet more of the town, Nora.” Sebastian grinned. 

“Eyy! Not to break up your little gathering here, but the man brings up a good point. Go! Chat! Before you know it you’ll be crazy about these fellas.” Gus beamed. “Well, enjoy the maple bars. Flag me or Em down for a tea any time, tonight it’s on the house.” Gus returned to his station behind the bar, greeting the other patrons heartily as he went.

“You know, if you did want to meet people now’s the time, most of the town is here.”

“Oh.” Nora finished her maple bar. “You wouldn’t think it would be super rude if I took off?”

“Nah. It’ll give me some time to practice my trick shots.” Sebastian nodded towards the pool table. “Besides, I heard about the commotion at Pierre’s the other day and I think it would be funny to have a front row seat to the next awkward mess.” he smirked evilly. “G’on, you. Git.” he shuffled his hands at her.

“Alright! Ok! I’m going.” she rose. “Don’t eat my maple bars.” she threatened.

\---

Sebastian lined up his shot, bending over the table and drawing back the cue; he stopped short, distracted by the woman across the room hiding in a corner and swiping on her phone. Nora had been socializing, sure, but every time she finished talking to someone she retreated to the corner by the ‘employees only’ section and pulled out her phone. 

“Hey, you!” he called out to her over the din of the crowd and music. She looked up startled and walked over. 

“What?”

“Farbeit for me to criticise but, this” he gestured “isn’t really part of the whole ‘making friends’ thing you’re supposed to be working on.” 

“Oh.. I’m, um…” Nora faltered “I’m… making notes.”

“Notes?”

“Yeah… I have a spreadsheet started, and I’m just making notes of things.”

“What kinds of notes?”

“Just, things people like, their jobs, history, relationships, things like that.”

“Oh yeah? Let me see.” Nora shuffled over and showed Sebastian her phone.

“See, it’s organized by name - because I’m still learning names - and then I have a column for their jobs and a column for - HEY!” Sebastian took her phone from her hands and stashed it in his pocket.

“You can have it back at the end of the night. Get out there and actually meet people, stop… tracking their data. You’re a person, not a search engine.”

Nora glared at him.

“...taking my phone… show you a search engine…” she muttered.

“Cheer up, buttercup. You’ll survive one night without your phone.” he snarked as she walked away. He shook his head and returned to the pool table.

The moment that Nora entered the bar area, Elliott flagged her over and gestured to the chair across from him. Setting his quill down the two chatted - politely at first, and then with more animation. Gus brought over two cups of tea after a while. They were joined by Leah, who waved over Dr. Harvey, who took her to introduce her to Clint, who was chatting with Emily - who then introduced Nora to her sister Hailey and Hailey’s partner, Alex. Sebastian cast a glance towards her intermittently through the night, between practising his shots and checking his own phone. They had pushed together two tables, forming a big jovial, chatty group. 

Satisfied with her progress and with his own progress at the billiard table, Sebastian hopped out for a quick cigarette while she was busy laughing with Willy and Elliott. Nora watched him exit and excused herself from the table. She found him by the shrubbery on his phone, cigarette hanging from his lip as he texted.

“You did well, young padawan.” he said without looking up.

“Thanks. For the compliment, and for making me actually get out there.”

“No problem, buttercup. Everyone needs a boot in the ass now and again.”

“Uh huh.”

“Learn anything earth-shattering?”

“A few tidbits. Likes and dislikes, got some fun stories from Willy and workout tips from Alex.”

“Very useful.”

“How about you, nerd? Other than DR7 and Solarion Chronicles and your billiardry, what do you like?”

“Nice try. There’s no getting into this cold dark heart.” he tapped his chest, exhaling smoke.   


“Can I have my phone back now?”

“You may.” he handed it over to her. “I think I’m going to head home. Got Gus to pack up your maple bars, he’s got the box at the register.”

“Thanks. This was fun. Even before the social circus you shoved me into.”

“With pleasure.” he gave an accentuated bow. “I’ll catch you around.”

She breathed in the night air as he left - the night air and residual cigarette smoke and a hint of a cologne that was becoming familiar. The bell above the saloon door jingled and Gus popped his head out; he had seen her leave and brought out her box of maple bars, not wanting her to miss them. She thanked him and decided to head home herself. It was getting late and she thought that the next day would be a good time to look at the old Joja Mart building, get some idea of the condition, do up a reno plan and run some figures with Robin. She could text Sebastian to see if he...

…

She forgot to get his number again.

“Goddammit…” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I originally had a scene in there where Sebastian gets her number - well, he steals it. By guessing her cell phone pin (which is 1337 because she’s old and dorky) but after writing it, I read it and a) it came across as creepy (I’d be creeped out if some dude broke into my phone) and b) it didn’t feel right for him to just take her number. She should have some agency there. So it was relegated to the bin and we have this instead.
> 
> I also made up the word “billiardry”.


	10. Strange Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora meets new a new friend whom Sebastian nearly kicks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story takes a dip into the supernatural realm of the valley.  
> A couple of chapters dealing with some of the other-worldly goings-on before we get back to cold, hard facts!  
> I originally had this and the next chapter as a single instalment, but it was ridiculously long so I've split it up. As a result, this chapter's a smidge shorter than typical instalments.
> 
> And here's the song I couldn't get out of my head:  
> https://youtu.be/-Wtj59opWKg

Nora did a last-minute check on her pack:

Leah | Driftwood | ✓  
---|---|---  
Evelyn | Diamond | ✓  
Harvey | Coffee | ✓  
Willy | Mead | ✓  
Emily | Fabric | ✓  
Robin | Goat Cheese | ✓  
  
She had developed a habit of bringing whatever extra she had for the people in town who needed it. The diamonds were a surprise: although Kate had mentioned a gem replicator, but it hadn’t really clicked what that meant until about a week after she’d arrived and she noticed a diamond in the repository. Even more surprising, as she retrieved it the machine began pulsing anew and days later another diamond appeared. She couldn’t think of anyone who wouldn’t like to get a diamond, so she had started sharing them with others in the community. 

Beginning in Cindersnap Forest and moving on to the town, she delivered the items and collected foraged items along the way, which she could sell to pad her income a bit. Leaving Pierre’s she began towards Robin’s place.

She stopped short of the mountain brow and took a long look at the decrepit Joja Mart. Surely it wouldn’t hurt to do some quick reconnaissance, right? Take a quick duck in, assess the structure, get an idea of how much work it would take to make the movie theatre a reality. If it was an insane amount of work she could even ask Robin if Rob could come in to help out; he had his own projects going on, but would love to get the chance to put his design fingerprints on a theatre space.

The door had been barricaded but a large chunk of one door had come away, making it easy for Nora to pry it open and look inside. The room was dark and large pieces of furniture formed a makeshift barricade around a small perimeter. A broken freezer stood with glass smashed, piles of materials clumped on either side. Slowly, Nora’s eyes adjusted to the dark. 

An odd pile of books sat in the middle of the room. Nora approached them and saw that they were a parchment colour with gilded edges, a sturdy binding, and scrolled metal corners on the covers. The front was illustrated with the image of a large, bare tree with a mighty trunk and branches forking every which way. Nora approached the curious tomes and lifted one, brushing the dust from its surface.

The inside held curious lists of items from around the town: lists of crops from different seasons, artisan-crafted goods, high-quality items, and so forth - all with check boxes next to them and little notes written in a loopy script. Nora put down that book and picked up another; more checklists, this time for items that could be found throughout the community in different seasons and construction items. A particularly long checklist included items made by tapping trees and items that could only be found in a cave system or in the desert. More notes, this one said “Mushrooms from cave” and “Fix bus to travel to desert. Future investments.”

She picked up another book that simply contained gold amounts, it looked like an investment profile. Scanning the page a name stuck out: Kate Islington. Examining the previous books, the handwriting was a precise match, with the upward crossed ‘t’ and a generous loop on the ‘g’. Kate had made the notes, and presumably had used these books as checklists for items, but why? Nora opened the last book, which contained no notes but only a singular checklist of five items, some of which made no sense:

☐ Wine, silver quality  
☐ Dinosaur Mayonnaise (is this some kind of mad lib? Nora thought)  
☐ Prismatic shard  
☐ Ancient fruit, gold quality  
☐ Void salmon, Gold or Iridium quality (void salmon? Like… null and void?)  
☐ Caviar

There were spaces at the bottom for five items; presumably any five of the six things listed would have been sufficient for the creator of this list. Nora was beginning to feel that coming into the building was creating more questions than it was solving. She replaced the books, but caught a colourful bounce from the corner of her eye.

She turned swiftly, her hand already clutching her keys between her fingers as a makeshift knuckle duster. There was no person there, but only a small, round squishy-looking toy. 

“This is how horror movies start.” she said out loud.

“Movies? We love movies” it said in a hollow-sounding squeaky voice.

But Nora had already turned in the other direction and ran out the door. 

She ran to the minecart by the blacksmith’s and entered, clutching the lever to take her to the bus stop, or to the quarry, or to anywhere where she could feel safe. Her hands shook as she took out her phone and swiped through her contacts to Kate’s card. She dialled and the phone rang.

“NORA! How is my favourite new farmer? Is everything calming down?”

“Kate, there was like… a neon green marshmallow, and it talked to me, and… there were books, and items like … like a parsnip and a bean, and… your name and notes, and there … like, a tree? I don’t… it was… it was like a marshmallow?” she shook her head and caught her breath. “I’m sorry, this makes no sense, I sound like a crazy person.”

“You met the junimos.” 

“The - the what?”

“The junimos. You found my books? WIth all of the items listed.”

“Yes, there were a bunch of them, and then the marshmallow thing, the ju… junimo? It showed up and said that they like movies.”

“Nora. You don’t have anything to be afraid of, they are completely harmless. They’re industrious little dears.”

“They are?”

“Of course they are! They are the reason I was able to accomplish so much while I was there. I would bring them the items they needed, and they would work their little miracles and fix things that nobody thought could be fixed. They - Nora, where are you right now? It sounds so noisy!”

“I’m in the minecart.” Nora said shamefully. “I ran.”

“Nora, you sweet, adorable hummingbird! Turn around and go back there and introduce yourself properly. They probably just want to meet you and say hello. And feel free to look through my books, I’m pretty proud of them. Not to be too smug. Just smug enough.”

“I… okay.” 

“And don’t worry, they’re friendly.”

“Okay.”

“And if they want help, find a way to help them.”

“Okay.”

“And call me later! We’ll chat.”  
  
“You’re sure this is safe.”

“I’m 100% positive, you will be fine.”

“Ok. I’m back in town. I’ll talk to you later Kate.”

“Great! Go get ‘em! You’re amazing and I love you and CALL ME later. I’ll want to hear all about it.”

Nora approached the Joja Mart again. Inside, the small marshmallow creature was still standing (standing?) by the book. 

“You’re back!” it chirped.

“Yeah. Hi. So, I’m a friend of Kate’s. I live at the farm, and I’m trying to get this old building turned into a movie theatre. Can you help?”

“We are the Junimos. Keepers of the forest.”

“... nice to meet you.”

“We are happy to aid you. All we ask is for gifts from the forest.”

“The items in the book. Do you know where I can find them?”

“They are gifts of the forest, of the mountains and of the mines. If you search for them, you will find them.”

“So… no hints, then.” she assumed. The junimo looked at her blankly before offering a cheerful reply:

“All we ask is for gifts from the forest.”

“Ok. Alright. I can handle that. If Kate can do it, I can do it.”

“Return with each of the items as an offering, and we will provide you with aid.”

“Got it. I will be back, then… bye for now.” 

The Junimo smiled and waved jovially as Nora moved towards the exit. As she walked up the mountain she exhaled, not realizing she had been holding her breath for some time.

“Alright. So… magic exists, tiny forest marshmallow creatures helped Kate rebuild everything, and they’ll help me make a movie theatre as long as I can find them… dinosaur mayonnaise. Which also exists. Somewhere.”

\---

As she walked past the carpenter shop she remembered the goat cheese in her backpack for Robin. 

“I’ll duck in quickly, then back to it.”

Robin wasn’t in the carpenter shop or the kitchen, and Demetrius wasn’t home either. She descended the stairs to Sebastian’s room and knocked on the door. 

“Enter!” he called.

She pushed open the door; he was at his computer station tapping away, surrounded by coffee cups, notepads, and dishes. He was wearing glasses and an old beaten up hoodie.

“Hey!” he called from behind the dragon’s hoard of desk food and debris. “What news of the outside world? Tell me everything.” he didn’t look up from his screen.

“Hey, I was just bringing some cheese over for your mum but nobody’s home.”

“You can leave it in the fridge if you want, I’ll text her to let her know you dropped it off.”

“Sure. Thanks.” she turned to go back upstairs.

“Hey, hang on a sec. I’m almost done with this…” he said, typing furiously. “

“I don’t want to interrupt, if you’re in a groove go with it.”

“Just wrapping up. I’ll be two seconds.”

“Don’t rush.” she took a seat on the fabric stool on the opposite side of his desk. “No sense in rushing and making mistakes.”

“Mistakes are just another name for experience.” he finished typing and leaned backwards in his chair, running his hands through his hair. “It’s done.”

“Big project?”

“Yeah, this one’s been impossible. One of those ones where the client keeps changing their mind, sending new parameters. I guess the guy who was heading up the project got fired? I dunno. I’m going to start instituting very expensive change orders. Anyways, what’s up buttercup?”

“I think we can get started on the JojaMart right away.”

“Oh yeah? I’ll just grab my tool belt and hard hat, shall I?”

“Quiet, you. Will you come with me to look at the building?”

“I’m a programmer Nora, not a general contractor.”

“I know. I just want your insight.”

Sebastian threw his head back and let out an exasperated “ugghhh”.

“Why. Why do they always come to me.” he questioned. “Okay, I’ll go.”

“Thanks. I’ll put you on my knit-list. Hat or mittens?”

“More and more like Kate every time I see you… C’mon then, before I change my mind.”

\---

“This place gives me the creeps.”

“Why, because it’s abandoned and derelict, or because it’s the empty pod husk of a heartless multinational corporation?”

“The latter. But also the former.” Sebastian pried the door open and waved Nora through “After you, madam.”

“Such a gentleman.”

The room was still darkened, the books sat where Nora had left them.

“So, here’s the thing.” she started, “These books.”

Sebastian picked up the empty book and looked it over. 

“It’s written in some kind of different alphabet.”

“You can’t read it?”

“You can?” he handed the book to her.

“It’s a list of items that we need to bring here… it’s basically a fetch quest.”

“A fetch quest. For who?”

“For… ok, I’m realizing that you are going to think I’m crazy, but just join me on this journey, ok. Kate filled out these books,” she handed one of the completed books to Sebastian, “she would bring these items and leave them, and then … workers would complete tasks for her, like fixing the bus, or the quarry bridge.”

“So, the part where Kate didn’t actually rebuild the whole community centre with her own two hands overnight without anyone noticing makes sense, but who are these workers?”

Just as he asked, there was a popping noise and a blue junimo popped out and bounced towards Nora.   
Sebastian shouted and tried to kick it away, but the junimo bounced happily, missing the incoming foot and hopping directly to its new friend. Nora bent down and patted its head.

“Sebastian! Don’t kick them… These are the workers. Listen,” she said to the junimo “I brought my friend, he’s going to help me to find what we need to rebuild this place, ok?”   
The junimo snuggled Nora’s leg and bounced away. A bright light shone and then dissipated. Nora stood and handed the book to Sebastian.

“...okay.” Sebastian said. “So… we have to find the things in this book.” he glanced at the pages - “Which I can suddenly read. Huh.”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm.” 

“Come on, I already have the list of items, let’s go.”

The two exited the building and walked across town towards the bus stop in silence. Sebastian kicked a rock as they walked, passing a few bundled up townsfolk as they went.

“So…. are we going to talk about that pillow thing?” He asked. “Are we high? Is there a carbon monoxide leak? Am I being pranked or something? What’s actually going on here. Explain yourself.”

“Look, I’m as weirded out as you are, I’m just rolling with it. I called Kate, she assured me that they’re safe and friendly. I could call her again, she might know where we need to go to get some of this stuff.”

“No. I know where we need to go.” he replied with what was either annoyance or tiredness. “The wizard.”

“The wizard…” Nora’s eyes widened. “Oh! Ok! Just let me grab my mayonnaise from the house… and gifts!” she dashed ahead and up her porch to retrieve the items she needed.

“Mayonnaise?? God, you’re so weird... It’s a good thing you’re cute“ he called after her, lighting up a cigarette while he waited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have busted through the writer's block! I have the next three chapters written, and two are nearly ready to go. I may release Chapter 11 earlier than next Thursday/Friday if I can get the editing finalized!
> 
> I would love to hear from you! I thrive on feedback, let me know what you think of the story so far 😁
> 
> Stay safe out there, be well!


	11. Into the Mystic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tripping the light fantastic into another plane of existence tests the stress responses of our two friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things get a bit silly for a chapter. I thought about how these characters would react to things like "interdimensional portals" and stuff - I think I landed on a place that's true to the characters :)
> 
> For the youngins who don't know Van Morrison  
> https://youtu.be/_6r2P4W9Yog

“So, here’s the thing.” Sebastian began prepping Nora for their visit, “The wizard is weird. He mostly keeps to himself up in his tower, he doesn’t really interact with anyone from the town. Things… might get a little bit… I don’t know, spooky or something in there. Just a heads up.”

“When I read ‘wizard’ in the letter that Kate left, I never thought she meant real wizard.”

“What else could she possibly have meant?”

“I don’t know, I kinda figured drug dealer?” Nora shrugged.

A crack split the sky and a heavy rain poured down, completely soaking the entire landscape in moments. Without an umbrella, Sebastian pulled the hood from his sweater up over his head.

“Can you run?” he shouted over the din of the downpour.   


“Yes!” she called back, she took off her glasses - useless and spotted with droplets and smudges - “But I can’t really see!”

“I’ve got you!” Sebastian grabbed Nora’s hand and dashed towards the southwest corner of the forest, dodging knotted trees that shed their leaves in the tumult. A neatly lined shrubbery made a path towards the humble tower, partly hidden by trees and accessible by a steep set of stairs.

Sebastian opened the door and ushered her in; the two of them stood dripping in the doorway, the Wizard and his apprentice staring at the sudden intrusion.

“Who’s this then, hmmm?” The wizard asked.

“I’m Nora, sir. I’m the new farmer. This is Sebastian -”

“We know who he is.” the apprentice snapped.

“Abigail, be gracious.” he reprimanded gently. “Now, as my guests I insist that you sit by the fire to warm up and dry off, and explain why you have come to see me. I am Rasmodius, and it’s very nice to meet you Nora - and to see you again after all this time, Sebastian.” 

He busied himself, preparing a teapot and cups while the apprentice returned to her tasks. Sebastian wore an annoyed expression. Nora went into her pack and removed two items.

“Here,” she gestured to the wizard, “this is for you. Kate - the last farmer, she told me you liked these.” she held out a glittering solar essence and the wizard’s face lightened.

“This… this is imbued with potent arcane energies… it is very useful for my studies. Thank you!”

“And here…” she held out her hand to Abigail. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know anyone else would be here, but I have this quartz.” she dropped the mineral into the apprentice’s hand.

“... thanks.” was the curt reply.

The wizard poured cups of jasmine tea for both Nora and Sebastian, who smiled serenely as he inhaled the aroma. They were joined at the bulky wooden table by the wizard, who sat with an aged groan and cupped his hands around his own mug.

“So,” he began. “What has brought you here today.”

Rasmodius listened intently as Nora explained her desire to contribute to the community, the run-down Joja Mart, meeting the junimo and finding the list of items she now needed to procure.

“There are a few items I already have… I’ve got an ancient fruit that Kate left that is gold quality. I’ve already started ageing some wine, it should be ready in a week or so. I can try to find a prismatic shard. But the other items… I mean, caviar I should be able to figure out, but dinosaur mayonnaise? Void salmon? I don’t even know what those mean, nevermind where to locate them.”

“You should send them to Elsebeth’s.” came the voice from the prep table. Abigail was also listening intently.

“I hardly think that’s appropriate.”

“They need a void salmon. You know somewhere else to get them?” 

“Silence, you!” the Wizard hissed. “I regret that there is nowhere else to retrieve a void salmon, but I cannot send you to Elsebeth’s. Her hut is filled with the vilest things that a man can imagine; the putrid stench of a thousand years’ rot plumes from every corner; the most villainous, nefarious scoundrels gather there to carry out their malevolent deeds…”

“You’re just saying that ‘cause she’s your ex, Ras.” Abigail prodded.

“I said SILENCE!” the room shook with the boom of his holler.

“ _ ‘Putrid stench of a thousand years’ rot?’ _ Dude, I’ve met her new boyfriend, he’s not that bad.”

“You dare challenge a wizard, novice??”

“ _ And ‘malevolent deeds’? _ The girls from her tabata class get together and drink wine and play bridge.”

“Well, they’re unpleasant!” Radmodius sulked.

“If it’s not unsafe for us to go to - wherever it is -, I’d like to at least try.” Nora volunteered.

“Fine! Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” he stood from the wooden table, downed his whole mug of tea, and swept to the back of the room. He unlocked a large wooden door and cracked it open. “Should you face Elsebeth, be warned: she was a sweet, harmonious angel while we were married, but I made a mistake that turned her away and turned her green with jealousy…”

“You took off to Las Vargas with your friends and got wasted on dragonslayers on your wedding anniversary. She wasn’t jealous, she was pissed. Who wouldn’t be?”

“That’s it! I’ve had it with your insolence, young lady! Go and muck out the junimo huts!”

“Whatever you say, dude.” Abigail shook her head and crossed through a curtained doorway into another room, glaring icily in Nora’s direction as she did so.

“Through here,” Rasmodious continued “down the stairs. You can’t miss it.”

Nora cast an unsure glance at Sebastian and rose, headed towards. the door and down the steps. Sebastian let out a sigh and joined her.

“What was up with the wizard’s apprentice up there? She didn’t seem very happy with you.” Nora probed.

“She’s, uh... my ex.” Sebastian admitted, “Years ago. It’s not a big deal. Can we talk about something else? Like the weird magical basement we’re entering or the jumping pillow thing that I almost punted back at the Joja?”

The downstairs was dark, and there were no doors leading out; no windows; no exits of any kind.

“What did he mean by ‘you can’t miss it’?” Nora wondered aloud.

“You didn’t think it was weird that he said his ex was in the basement?”

“I didn’t know it was a basement; I told you, I’m just rolling with it here.” 

She looked for clues as to what the wizard was talking about, perhaps a magical brick or something.

Sebastian watched as she inspected. This whole thing was insane. He had just finished the project from hell, and the last thing he wanted to do was go running errands. If he had known that he’d be rummaging around in the basement at his ex’s workplace he probably would’ve just gone to bed.

But he watched Nora, hunting for some kind of a clue, her expression quizzical but determined behind her glasses… 

“Could be worse,” he thought.

He watched as she picked items up off a shelf and replaced them, as she inspected the mortar between the bricks, as she turned to examine the fungi at the far side of the room -

As she vanished out of sight.

“Nora??” he called, but she had snapped out of the air without a trace. “Nora?!?!”

He ran over to where she had been before she had snapped away, and he felt himself being pulled violently - as though he had been tied around the waist and yanked by an invisible force.

* * *

Sebastian staggered weakly as he lurched to a stop. He looked around; he was in a strange room filled with a bubbling pot, tables of plants in various stages of processing, and drying herbs hanging from the ceilings. Nora was there, examining the tables, picking up bunches of herbs and inspecting them.

“So this is, uh…” Nora faltered. “It’s, um.. I think that…”

“Um… WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“WHAT THE FUCK!??” 

“I agree.”

“Where the fuck are we? What is this place?” he turned and saw three hideous statues facing him, “WHAT ARE THOSE???” he gestured to them open-palmed as he shouted. 

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. I’m out of my element, here. Shut up and help me.” 

Sebastian peered around the cottage interior; there were vessels filled with odd fluids, an intimidating-looking cauldron in the corner, pots of fragrant herbs and plant life growing throughout, and a large wooden door with a rectangular window. He peered through the window to get a glimpse of the outside.

“There’s a - a thing out there. A big thing, it’s green... “

“A tree?”

“Yeah, I couldn’t think of the word  _ tree _ .” he snapped.

“Well,  _ sorry. _ ”

“It’s a thing. Like a… a-”

“Let me look.” Nora peered through the window along with Sebastian; it didn’t take long for her to see the large, green, ominous-looking creature clad in armour standing guard outside a marshy wetland. “Oh. I see.”

“I see? That’s it? We’re teleported to who knows where, end up in a house with what looks like a demonic summoning rune on the ground - where there is a literal cauldron - and there’s a big green thing outside, and you say ‘I see’?”

“It would appear that way.” she examined the large green being with a perplexed look on her face. “I wonder… hmmm.”

“What?” Sebastian began pacing the floorboards. “Hmmm what.”

“I wonder if that’s why Kate wanted me to bring the void mayonnaise…”

“The void… sorry, you lost me.”

“In her letter she told me to bring void mayo if I visited the wizard. But she also said not to give it to any of the villagers because it’s disgusting. We’re here for a void salmon; I’ve brought void mayo… I’m just wondering if they’re related.”

“What exactly is void mayo.”

“Mayo made from a void egg.”

“Oh yes, of course. That makes total sense. Just like flalala sauce is made from flalala. Do you see how ridiculous that sounds?”

“Do you?”

Sebastian rolled his head back and made an “aughhh” sound.

“You’re infuriating.”

“Yes, but I’m seldom wrong.” she sorted through her pack to find what she was after. “Here, can you hold this?” she asked him, holding out a fragile-looking package. “Here it is. Void mayo.”

“So what, you throw it at him?”

“No, I’m going to give it to him.”

“You’re not actually going to go out there.”

“Why not?”

Sebastian gestured wildly to their surroundings, a look of disbelief on his face. 

“All of this?!” he said.

“Sebastian. Trust me. I’ve got this.”

Nora unlatched the door and closed it behind her. The air was slightly putrid and stunk of hot marsh and algae. She straightened her back and shoulders and approached the green being in a few quick strides.

“Excuse me, could you tell me if this is the body of water where I would catch a void salmon?”

“Yes ma’am it is, but I can’t let you through.”

“Oh… why not?”

“Witch’s orders, ma’am. She’s very strict about this, the last guy got fired for leaving his post and letting a human through. It’s hard enough getting regular employment as a goblin.”

“Of course, I understand. But listen, I’ve got something here for you. I made it myself.” she held out the dark jar for his inspection.

“... is that void mayonnaise?”

She held the jar out further for him to take. The goblin reached out a trepidatious hand and snatched the jar, holding it under his nose and sniffing. 

“Ohhhh sweet sister disco, it’s the good stuff!!” 

The goblin turned and gleefully ran off into the distance leaving the wide open swamp - where the void salmon surely swam - at Nora’s disposal.

Sebastian peeked from inside the house and, seeing the dancing goblin in the distance, exited the building and joined his companion. For the moment he quieted his opposition and apprehension about the whole experience and looked around.

The landscape was not as horrific as the word ‘swamp’ would make it sound; there was interesting vegetation, a combination of trees and shrubbery, climbing vines with small buds and many-tipped leaves. Although the ground was mushy, it was speckled in a mossy ground cover and home to many bugs, worms, and small lizards that crawled about enjoying their habitats. The sky was tinged with a strange orange colour, as though bathed in perpetual sunset - it was oddly beautiful.

“Sebastian…” she said softly.

“Yeah?”

“I forgot my fishing rod.”

“... goddammit.”

“I know.”

“Ugh…” he paused and turned around, heading towards the hut.” You’re on your own.”

“No! You have to come back with me!” she followed after him as he walked.

“No I don’t.”

“Come on! The hard part is over! We know the risks, we know the procedure, now it’s just implementation.” 

“Don’t want it.”

“C’mon, admit that you’re having fun!”

“Ugh!! You’re the worst.”

“I’m fantastic. And so are you. You didn’t open your present.”

“My present?” he looked at the package in his hand. “I didn’t know it was for me.”

“Sorry, I was distracted. Open it!”

He pulled at the cotton twine and inside the over-wrapped package sat a black and red speckled egg.

“... I hate eggs, you know.”

“If you don’t want it I’ll take it back. I just saw it and thought you might enjoy it. Just don’t crack it open - it smells like brimstone and grim death.”

“So does every other egg.” he felt the weight of it in his hands; it was somehow warm. “This is actually pretty cool. I don’t think I’ve seen one like this before. I could probably do a display for it… This is awesome. Thanks, Nora.”

“You’re welcome. And this was fun. We should do it again sometime.” he glared at her with extreme prejudice and made his way back into the hut.

Inside, Nora identified the sigil on the floor where she had appeared and stepped onto it, once again snapping from view. Sebastian followed, rolling his eyes as he snapped away himself.

They left the tower promptly, Nora promising Rasmodius that she’d be back. As they left, the passed the purple haired girl - Abigail - who was crouched holding an umbrella, collecting plants into a basket across from the tower steps. She saw them and flashed a mischievous smile before returning to her work. 

The pair navigated the forest through the dark and the rain and made it in one piece to Lerwick Farm. 

“Come in.” Nora shouted to him over the downpour as she opened her door. “It’s coming down even harder than it was before - don’t risk the walk.” 

He wasn’t about to fight her on it. 

“The bathroom is the second door on the right, go get yourself a towel. I’ll start the fire.” she started arranging the logs in the fireplace; she could wrap some potatoes in foil and stick them in the embers for a snack later. She called out: “Do you want a drink?”

“Tea!” he called from the bathroom.

“Man after my own heart.” she mused as she bunched up some old newsprint for kindling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We get back to reality next chapter, sort of. The supernatural stuff is taking a backseat for now, at least.  
> Thank you for your comments and kudos in the past couple weeks, I love hearing your feedback!   
> Keep safe out there.


	12. Banana banana banana

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian gets wrapped up and roped in - not in the fun way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok. So remember back in chapter 1 when I humbly besought your patience? This is where that kicks in. This is also where the "Explicit" rating kicks in - so up it gets busted. 
> 
> I had intended to workshop smut in the piece somewhere, so here is my first - but not last - attempt. At this point it is what it is, and it took more effort and humility than I thought it would, so bear with me and with practice and a bit o' luck future chapters should be positively shameful. 
> 
> A note on the chapter title: I've been told that 'banana banana banana' is occasionally used by folks who write code as a placeholder for stuff; you write it in and then go back later to add/fix/otherwise address the block in question. I thought it was suitable for this chapter ^.^

The television glowed blank in the darkened room, the last episodes of Sigil: the Final Elementalist having long ended.

Sebastian sat upright, Nora planted on his lap, his hands firmly on her waist. She rolled her hips into him causing him to nip on her lip in anticipation, in frustration. He grabbed her ass and grinded her into him, mind swimming at the magnificent gasp and moan that tumbled from Nora’s swollen mouth. He watched as she lowered her head towards his, nudging his face to the side, nuzzling into his neck - just above his collarbone - and ran her tongue along the sensitive flesh. 

His mind buzzed, the sensations clouding his mind like ephemera as Nora pressed her body against his again, planting tiny sucks and bites along his neck.

She sat up, absolutely wrecked - hair tousled, cheeks flush, lip bitten with a devious look on her face. In an instant she was on her knees in front of him, the slow zip of his jeans sending electricity through his whole body. She bent close to his lap, he could feel her warmth through his boxers. He ached for her to touch him. He felt impatient, how could she be going so agonizingly slow? He felt her hands on his legs, tugging at his pants, and in a flash they were gone - discarded somewhere out of sight. 

She moved so, so slowly, inching her open mouth towards his cock - now throbbing so badly it neared pain. He felt her tongue glide along the base of him, saw her looking up at him - blue eyes so sweet and devious and gorgeous and determined. She wrapped her lips around him and his nerves crashed into themselves; the excitement, the pressure, and the warm wet flooding his senses. 

“Mmmm, fuck” he cursed under his breath, surrendering entirely to her control, head leaned back against the cushions. “Nora…” he moaned.

“What?” came a vibrant voice from somewhere across the room.

Sebastian’s eyes snapped open; the room was bright and smelled of sizzling bacon and fresh coffee. Nora stood at the stove, tongs in-hand and looking directly at him. He looked down quickly, feeling a very uncomfortable tightness in his pants and saw, thankfully, that he had a blanket over him.

“What’s up?” she repeated.

“I, uh…” he sat up awkwardly and cast his eye to the sizzling pans on the stovetop. “I don’t like eggs.” he improvised groggily.

“I know. No eggs for you. Bacon, toast, coffee, and I’ve got fruit fresh from the greenhouse this morning.”

“This morning?” he adjusted his position under the blanket. He reached for his cell phone off the coffee table and checked the time. “How long have you been up?”

“About 3 hours. You kinda kicked me at like, 5am and I couldn’t get back to sleep. So the greenhouse work is done, animals fed, and breakfast is nearly ready.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“It’s ok” she poured coffee into two big pottery mugs “I didn’t mean to pass out with you on the couch, I know it’s a good size piece of furniture but you couldn’t have been comfortable with me all up in your business all night.”

“I didn’t mind.” he hoped he wasn’t blushing. “It’s been years since I did that - er, fell asleep watching TV with friends.” 

“I know, I don’t think I’ve done that since university. Cream or sugar?” she narrowed her eyes scrutinizing what she knew of him in an instant. “Neither, right?”

“Neither, yeah, thanks.” Sebastian accepted his piping hot cup of black coffee, extra grateful that she spared him the need to stand up. “You didn’t have to make breakfast…”

“You’ve got to eat. We didn’t have dinner last night, you must be starving. I know I’m famished. Gus should really consider offering delivery.”

“God yes. You have no idea how many times I would order a pizza when I’m working late.” he tasted the best cup of coffee he’d had in years. It’s always better when someone else makes it. “I’ll eat then get out of your hair.”

“You’re not in my hair.” she shoveled the last of the bacon onto the waiting plates and brought them both over to the couch. “I have just a couple more tasks to do outside after breakfast - I have to get all those pumpkins to the gate for Lewis to pick up for Spirit’s Eve.”

“Ah. That old chestnut. You need help?”

“I wouldn’t say no. If I can get some help with those, that would free me up to get the coops and barns ready for winter - maintenance on the heaters, making sure everything’s caulked and that there aren’t any significant drafts. I was going to do it tomorrow before the festival, but sooner would be better.”

“I’ll do the pumpkins, you do the maintenance.”

“We can both do the pumpkins, it’ll go faster and be easier if we do it together.”

“I can handle it.” he confidently replied.

* * *

“I hope you learned your lesson.” Nora tutted.

“Never!” Sebastian joked, bracing his weight against Nora with his arm draped across her shoulders.

“Up the stairs now, take your time.” she dug her heels in to help steady him up the steps. “Honestly, what were you thinking?”

“I just wanted to look cool - owowowowww!” he inhaled sharply through his teeth as he bent his knees to go up the small staircase. “Honestly, I’m ok.” he gasped.

“Oh yeah, you’re doing great. Just threw your back out carrying two pumpkins at once - my prize pumpkins, I’ll remind you.”

“The pumpkins are fine.” 

“The pumpkins are _gorgeous_.” she used her foot to hold open the wood-framed screen door as she ushered her foolish friend inside. “And they weigh nearly 50lbs each, and you, sir, tried to carry two of them in a single trip. You’re lucky all three of you made it out in one piece.” 

“They’re not that heavy…”

“They are, and they’re awkward to carry. If you’d waited just two minutes I could’ve gotten you my little wagon.”

“You have a wagon?” He shrugged out of his jacket with her help.

“Of course I do, you think I just haul hundreds of pounds of produce around with me by hand?”

“Ugh… you should’ve led with ‘I have a wagon’.”

“I led with ‘we’ll do it together’.” she fluffed up the pillows on her couch as he braced himself against the sturdy arm. “I didn’t think you’d try to go all Gulk on them and two-fist 100lbs of cucurbits while I was out _getting the wagon_.”

“Cucurbits?”

“The taxonomic family of pumpkins and other squashes as well as some melons and cucumbers. Alright, easy now...” Nora supported him as he eased down onto the sofa.

“Ah - _aaaaahhhh_!!! Fuck that hurts!”

“Yeah, I bet it does!” she shook her head at him. “Stay here, I’ll get you a heating pad and a muscle relaxer.”

“Shhyea.. Thanks.” 

He laid there waiting, cursing himself out for putting off a trip to the city to see his massage therapist. He tried to get his phone out of his pocket but the angle was too painful. Glancing around the room he started feeling nervous and agitated - he wished he could have a cigarette or another coffee, or that there was something on the tv, or that he had his phone or that there was literally anything to look at other than just _room_. He shuffled uncomfortably in his spot and settled again with a brisk sigh.

“How long does it take to get a pill…”

He looked to the coffee table to see if the remote was nearby, he could at least put on something to watch. There was a little folder there with a post-it that said “website” on it. He listened to see if Nora was nearby yet and when he heard no approaching footsteps, flipped open the front flap and took a peek at the cover page. 

He could only make out the words “website”, “tourism”, “Stardew Valley”, “theatre” and “development” from the awkward angle. He let the flap drop and went back to staring at the ceiling.

“You can check in my medicine cabinet too, if you want to be nosy.”

Sebastian jumped, causing a shooting ache to stab his back. He looked up with a grimace, Nora standing over him with a smirk, and a tray with two plates of fruit, a glass of water with a silicone straw, and - thankfully - an extra-strength back pill.

“What’s all this?”

“Just a snack. You need to eat when you take this or you’ll get stomach ulcers.” she handed him the pill and let him take the glass to wash it down. 

“You do?”

“...yes. Do you not take food with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications?”

“... yes?”

Nora shook her head with a pitious look.

“Sorry.” he replied. “For the peeking at your folder thing, not for neglecting to follow medication labels.”

“I was going to talk to you about that anyways.” she sat on the opposite side of the couch. “Also the folder, not medication labels.” she picked up the folder and held it out for him. “Will you go to meet Mayor Lewis with me? I want to pitch our project.”

“Huh? Our project?”

“The theatre. And the website.”

“The website…?”

“Did we not talk about the website idea? I could swear we did…” she swung her feet up onto the couch and crossed her legs to balance her snack plate. “You should develop a tourism website for the town. Nothing too crazy, just an info page, business directory, and calendar of the town’s events. Maybe some photos of the beach? I’ve got it all laid out here.” he took the folder from her “and here...” 

She reached under the couch and held out a three-ring binder that had to be 3” thick. He took it from her apprehensively.

“There’s a layout of the site, suggested features, site map, concept pages for each screen, suggested photos - we might need to get a photographer to take some high-quality photos if none exist already, I have a draft proposal and single source procurement for the town to hire Hailey - ideas for colour schemes and suggested fonts.”

Sebastian stared blankly at the document before scrutinizing her face.

“Kate? Has it been you in there this whole time?”

“Oh stop…”

“Seriously, a binder, Nora?” he flipped through the sizable document. “It’s colour-coded. It’s alphabetized! A table of contents… appendices?? What are these sticky notes?”

“User stories. For the scrum board.”

“For the scrum - ... you’re diabolical. If you wanted to take over the world, I truly believe you could.”

“Oh who’s got the time for that.” 

“At least the revolution will be organized…” he pulled out a USB stick labelled _backup_ from the pocket of the binder.

“Look, I can help, but I’m not as talented in this area as you are. You’re the pro here, I’m just your humble protege… Will you help me?” she added.

Sebastian rolled his head dramatically with a groan.

“But I want to be lazy!”

“Be efficient, it’s basically the same thing.”

“I don’t know…” he scanned the text with apprehension.

“Please?”

Her expression was pleading and sheepish. The image of dream-Nora crawling across the couch and perching on his lap flashed into his mind; he looked at her now, sitting opposite him, nervously biting her lower lip and looking at him expectantly. His mind did backflips to convince himself this was a good business decision that he was making with his rational human brain, not with his depraved lizard brain.

“For fuck sake... “ he muttered. “fine. I’ll do it. But it better not be that much work.” 

“Yes! I’m so glad, we can do this together. It’s going to make such a difference for this little place. Maybe we can convince Haley to maintain a social media presence too? I could do up another outline but I don’t know, I might be getting ahead of myself…”

“Ya think?” Sebastian said as he thumbed through the notes, finding a plastic sheet cover containing two printed mock-ups of invitation options for the Stardew Valley Website Launch Gala. 

* * *

**Hey, you up?**

**Yeah man, what’s the sitch?**

**Just got back from Nora’s.**   
******The new farmer.**

**Oh yeah? Getting friendly?  
** **💋**

**No.  
** **Never mind.**

**Aw, cmon Seb.  
** **How’s the new farm girl?**

**She’s fine.**

**How fine? U got a pic?  
** **...Seb?**

**Can we not be 12?  
** **She’s fine.  
** **I helped her move some pumpkins.**

**I bet you did  
** **🎃🍆**

**Fuck off  
** **What does that even mean?**

**IDK man,  
** **I’m jst working w/ what u give me.**

**I spent the night**

**OMG AND???!**

**I threw out my back**

**YEAH U DID!  
** **GET IT BOYEEE!!**

**Moving the pumpkins. God.**

**U like her tho  
** **...Seb?**

**Yeah, I do.**

**She pretty?**

**Yeah.**

**She nice?**

**Stupidly nice.**

**Is she actually stupid?**

**No. She’s crazy smart.**

**… is she actually crazy?**

**Oh yeah. For sure.  
** **But not in the ‘dump mustard all over someone’s car  
** **because they cut her off in traffic’ way.**

**Ugh… Lauren...**

**She’s more like the ‘alphabetize  
** **the DVDs and track them in a spreadsheet  
** **organizable by title, genre, and  
release ** **date’ type**

**Hmmm...  
** **Glasses?**

**Yeah. Why?**

**100% guarantee you she rocks it in the sack**

**Sam. Please.**

**I’m serious!  
** **What’s she into?**

**I dunno…  
** **She likes crosswords, she used to be an actuary...  
** **She likes tea? She’s dead set on doing  
** **something important for the town.  
** **She likes DR7 and Solarian Chronicles.**

**Seb, MY DUDE.  
** **Get it**

**I don’t know.  
** **I wouldn’t even know where to start. We’re friends.  
** **I don’t want things to get weird?**

**GET IT.**

Sebastian sighed, lowering his phone to rest on his stomach. He stared at the ceiling in his room. He knew he was making excuses. It wouldn’t be weird. They were adults, he could ask her out on a date in a respectful way; if she wasn’t interested she could decline, and then they just go on being friends. But it felt like there was more on the line; like he didn’t have a recent reminder of how his last friend-turned-girlfriend experience went...

He liked Nora. She was cute. Weird, but cute. He couldn’t ignore this little prickling thought in the back of his mind that this was it - _it_ it - for two reasons: one, Nora wasn’t the kind of girl who would want to go out casually and just have fun - he wasn’t entirely convinced that she knew _how_ to just have fun. She was a serious person and he could tell she was not interested in playing around. And two: he wasn’t interested in playing around either. He’d had girlfriends, flings, the odd hook-up when he was younger and spent more time in the city. 

It wasn’t what he wanted, though. He wanted to share his life with someone, to be important to someone and to have someone who mattered to him more than anything. This felt like the last chance to really have that life that he’d imagined for himself, and that Nora could be that person. Or he could be alone - which truth be told matched his MO pretty well, but he was ready to admit he wanted more in his life. 

He had this image of a scene in his head: him and a woman drinking coffee on a covered porch first thing in the morning, somewhere quiet. The sun rising and shining on her hair, steam coming up from the cups they held in their hands, not in any rush, nowhere to be, just enjoying coffee and each others’ company. He wanted that - the partnership, the comfort, the acceptance of another person. Maybe marriage. Maybe one day a kid... (he had to teach someone all the old console cheat codes and combos for Ultra Bash and Lethal Konflict. That wisdom must be passed on somehow.)

Lost in his thoughts, he jumped as his phone buzzed and rang - the theme song to an old anime that Sam was obsessed with when they were kids.

“Are you _calling me_ ? On a _phone_?” Sebastian hissed. “Are you from the past?”

“GET IT.” the voice replied.

“Oh my god, Sam.”

“Sebastian. My DUDE. You are letting your whole life slip by. We’re in our mid-30s -”

“Are we now, eggplant emoji??”

“Man, you can poke fun if you want, but Pen and I are getting married. We’re saving up for a downpayment on a house. I just _paid_ a human being to put things in my mouth and scrape crud off my teeth. Adult stuff.”

“I hope that person was a dental hygienist.”

“Me too! That’s what the side of her van said but either way the price was right.”

“Uh huh.”

“You just seem so stuck.” he got serious. “I don’t want to see my best friend get left behind because he never takes a chance, that’s all.”

“Uh huh.”

“And just the fact that you’re texting me about this girl says to me you’re into her.”

“Uh huh.”

“And if she’s half as smart as you say she is, she’ll go out with you in a second.”

“Uh huh.”

“And your mom’s hot for me.”

“Uh h.. Fuck off Sam” 

“Talk to you later sugar bear.”

“Yeah, talk to you later. Say hi to P for me.”

Sebastian thumbed through the binder Nora had given him. The website wouldn’t take more than a week, two if he added bells and whistles. He’d just have to get through the meeting with Lewis. He groaned. Lewis... 

Sam was right about one thing: if he was texting his friends about Nora, it must mean something. He took out one of the extra sticky notes and wrote on it “Ask Nora Out” - he found the miniature scrum board and stuck it under “to do”, written in Nora’s slightly messy but stylized hand.

Then he felt like a dork and took it out, crumpled it up and threw it into his wastebasket. With a huff and a groan, he gingerly turned himself over to lay on his side and stretch out his back.

* * *

Nora was tidying the kitchen when her phone rang - the theme song from Fable of Hilda. She dried off her hands and answered.

“Hey Kate”

“So? How did everything go? Did the junimos give you a task?”

“I don’t even know where to start… yes, they gave me a task, I roped Sebastian into helping me, he took me to the wizard’s and I got zapped to a weird swamp that might have been in another world? I gave mayonnaise to a goblin. That sounds so weird to say. I gave _mayonnaise_ made out of a _black egg_ to a _goblin._ ”

“Wow, that escalated quickly.” 

“Yes. Yes it did.” Nora hesitated. “So… quick question: What’s the scoop on Sebastian? I think I’ve got a pretty good read on him, but what’s your opinion.” 

Kate responded with a low whistle.

“You got zapped to the witch’s swamp, met an ogre, and found out that magic is a thing, and you’re asking me about Seb? Girl…”

“I handled the swamp without a problem. I don’t need any help there.”

“Listen to you! Marching right in there like a boss and taking care of business, I have no doubt in you at all!” she laughed. “So Sebastian, huh?”

“I don’t know… maybe? We like a lot of the same things, he’s funny, he’s got his own business…”

“Plus the motorcycle. I never had a thing for him or anything, but seeing him in a t-shirt working on that bike? C’mon, that’s just not fair.”

“He has a motorcycle?”

“Oh Nora, you magnificent, anxious honeybee, yes. He has a motorcycle. And he plays the piano.”

“The piano thing checks a box for sure, but a motorcycle?” she pulled a face. “And he’s a smoker… sedentary job, median income but lives with his mother, no partner, no children, self-employed… statistically he’s a nightmare. Do you know, does he have high blood pressure uncontrolled by medication?”

“Stop thinking with your actuary brain.” Kate paused. “Look, I know it’s intimidating because it is _such a small town_. If you can get past the ‘everyone is in everyone else’s business’ thing, just give him a shot.”

“I don’t know…”

“He’s a good man. He’s got the Kate seal of approval, is that what you were asking for?”

“A bit. I just can’t get a solid read on him, he goes hot to cold at the smallest nudge.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right. He’s nice, but he can be moody.”

“We’re working on a project together - I roped him into that too. He’s designing a website for the town.”

“My friend, that is a _wonderful_ idea. I’m looking forward to seeing it! Oh, hang on a sec…” Nora heard Kate move the phone away, Jas’ voice in the background. “Sorry about that, just seeing Jas out, sleepover weekend at a friend’s place. So, you’re a human calculator, what’s your read on him then?”

“He wants to be needed, or valued or something like that, but he tries to play it too cool. Sometimes it feels like I’m dragging him along, but also like he _wants_ to be dragged? I don’t like that. I don’t want someone to say one thing but actually want another. It’s contrary. I don’t like it.”

“All I can say is that if you got that bum out of his mom’s basement and working on projects, in my non-expert but reasonably well-informed opinion that the boy has got it bad. I think the ball is in your court, lovey.”

“Oh don’t tell me that… if the ball is in my court then he has to play by my rules.”

“I would expect your rules to be meticulous, just, and fair.”

“And just a little bit exploitative.”

“I’ve noticed! Hopefully he doesn’t.”

“It’s a good project.”

“It’s a GREAT project. And you two are the dream team to make it happen. Go get ‘em, Nora. Give them everything you’ve got.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't hate me!  
> Yes, it was A DREAM! But dreams are loaded with significance and are the brain's way of processing things while we rest.
> 
> In all honesty, this chapter killed me. I'm not 100% thrilled with it but it'll do for now - it might get banana-banana-bananad itself!
> 
> Thank you for the comments and kudos this past week, it's such a delight to hear from you! Keep well, be safe.


	13. Flurry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Old bitterness bleeds up and poisons the new.

The rooster crowed at 6. By 7, the animals had been visited and checked up on; the mayo and cheese machines, kegs, and oil extractors pulsed happily with product. Nora was combing her hair after a particularly hot shower which she desperately needed - her muscles were still aching from lifting five dozen pumpkins the other day, and  _ now  _ her bones were achy with winter cold. 

Blow drying didn’t take long, and she didn’t need much in the way of makeup - eyebrows, mascara, lip gloss, done. She emptied the entirety of her 8-cup pour-over coffee maker into a large insulated dispenser and put it into a basket. It was quickly accompanied with three presentation folders hot off the printer, extra pens, and a spare pair of mittens. Checking her watch, she still had an hour to stop by the docks, Pierre’s, and Evelyn’s to drop off some care packages. She hummed to herself as she hopped out the door, feeling a peace and self-actualization that she hadn’t felt in years.

The door swung back open quickly - Nora dashed to her fridge and grabbed two eggs, tucking them into her basket before exiting once more, venturing into the landscape laden with crisp, even snow, and the clear, bright morning sunshine. 

\---

The alarm buzzed and buzzed - a creature of habit by default, when his faithful digital alarm clock died, Sebastian went through a dozen apps to find one that matched the familiar sound. Unsatisfied with the results, he bought a small sound mixer and created his own. The horrible irony was not lost on him that he spent so much time and his own money to create what could only be described as the sound of pure unadulterated crankiness - the sound that busted his ass out of bed on the days when he had early meetings.

His bleary eyes adjusted and checked his phone - 9:30.

“Shit.”

He had already hit snooze twice.

He clambered out of the bed and pulled on what he guessed was a clean t-shirt and a jacket. Rifling through his top drawer he found his deodorant, swiping it across his underarms while he ran to his ensuite to find the mouthwash. Gargling quickly, he caught his reflection in the mirror.

“Ugh…” he ran a desperate hand through the mess, thinking it was easier when he was in his 20s and just gelled the crap out of it. 

He ran upstairs, then back downstairs for the binder, and then again for his glasses... and again for his boots, which he had left on despite his mother tutting him for bringing in snow puddles. He jammed on the boots and threw a laptop and the binder into a beaten up backpack before heading back upstairs. Robin was already in the shop.

“G’morning sunshine.”

“Moning. See you later.” he bolted out the front door, letting the screen door slam behind him.

“Hey hey!! Where are you going in such a rush?” she called out to no reply. “God, I swear he was raised by wolves…”

\---

“- not a cloud in the sky, chance of snow showers tomorrow, high of -6C. This has been your 8 o’clock SDV weather report, I’m Chet Menkin.” “Thanks Chet, and now a treat for all you hard-working honeys out there, a Mona Winters classic from 1983…”

Lewis pressed the alarm button to turn off the radio, stretching as he noticed the sunshine pouring in through his curtains - it was going to be a beautiful day. He dressed quickly - he had quite a bit to do in his front yard that morning: ensuring the walk was shovelled and salted and caring for the dormant beds, organizing his seasonal decorations for the winter, and planning the beds for spring. With those tasks done, he made his way to the kitchen, stopping to pet the head of a marmalade kitten that rubbed against his legs affectionately. He started the kettle for coffee and selected a small pot, which he filled with water and put on the stove to boil. He was just retrieving bread when he was interrupted by a knock at the door.

He tottered over and was greeted by his morning newspaper on the stoop; he placed it on his table with care and returned to making breakfast. 

Two slices of Lerwick Farm whole wheat bread into the toaster, and he took care as he spooned two heaping scoops of coffee grounds into his coffee press. Lewis opened the doors of his fridge to find eggs - hard boiled eggs this morning, with squares of toast and Lerwick Farm strawberry jam - but there were no eggs in sight. He muttered to himself in disappointment and scrawled “eggs” onto the shopping list magnetized to the refrigerator. A knock sounded at the door - he furrowed his brow as he tottered again towards it. Nora stood on his stoop, face lit with a friendly smile and wind-blown pink cheeks.

“Good Morning Lewis. Here, I brought you these.” she handed him two eggs.

“Good heavens, how did you… erm. I did need these, thank you.” he welcomed her in and offered her a seat at the table while he submerged the farm-fresh eggs into the boiling water. “Can I get you a coffee? Tea? Or can I offer you some breakfast? Toast?”

“Thanks Lewis, I’ve already eaten, and I actually brought coffee,” she retrieved a large dispenser from her basket and settled it on his counter. “I hope you don’t mind.” 

“That’s very gracious, thank you. Although I usually only have one cup myself, Dr. Harvey has warned me about my caffeine intake, I really do have to limit how much I drink.” 

“Oh that’s alright Mayor. It’s mostly for me and Sebastian.”

“Sebastian? I-” he was interrupted by another knock. “Goodness gracious, it’s Great Meridian Station in here!” he ambled to the door and opened it to see a somewhat dishevelled looking and very out-of-breath Sebastian huffing and puffing, doubled over on his stoop.

“Hey-” he panted “I… sorry, I’m not late… am I?”

“Late?”

“Sebastian! Come on in, I’ve got coffee.” Nora was in the kitchen pouring him a cup. “Mayor, I’m guessing just a bit of cream, right?”

“Just a bit, yes, I-”

“I brought the mock-up, Nora. Here I…” Sebastian panted again, “I have got to quit smoking…” he plunked into his seat as Nora placed a steaming cup of black coffee at his hands.

“Strawberry jam on the toast, Lewis?” Nora grabbed a plate and buttered the just-popped toast.

“Yes, strawberry, but-”

“And do you want soft, medium or hard boiled? They should be ready in just a moment.”

“Hard is fine, but-”

“These are fresh, so they might not peel very well. Do you have any ice? I can put them in an ice water bath.”

“I - yes, in the freezer dear, but-”

“Nora this coffee is amazing.”

“Oh thanks, Kate left it behind - she grew the beans herself.”

“Of course she did. Try some, Lewis.”

“And here’s your toast. Eggs in just a moment.”

“What is going on here!!” Lewis ever-so-slightly shouted. “You two - I’m always up for guests, you know that, but what is this? Nora? Sebastian?”

“We… we have a proposal for you, Lewis.” Nora said, taking the eggs from the pot and submerging them into a bowl of ice water. “Sebastian and I have been coming up with a plan that I think you will agree is a great step forward for Pelican Town - and for the Valley as a whole.” 

Nora went to her basket and pulled out her binder and the three presentation packages. She set one at each place at the table. 

“If you’ll take a look here, I’ve outlined a very compelling case for two separate-but-related initiatives - looking at page three, you’ll see I’ve made a list of all of the things in Pelican Town and the surrounding area that would be considered assets, from a tourism perspective. This includes natural beauty, shops and speciality services, special events, and so on.” She placed his coffee and a creamer by his elbow. “If you’ll look on page 6, I’ve put together some options for Pelican Town based on categorizing these assets into tourism categories - and have further quantified the kinds of demographics who participate in those types of tourism activities.” She set his cooled eggs from a slotted spoon onto his toast plate with a tiny bowl beside for shells.

“Good heavens…” Lewis muttered, peering at the package through his reading glasses.

“You’ll notice that there is one section where we are quite behind - entertainment. The saloon is great, but there really isn’t anything else to do in the evenings. So if you’ll turn to section II on page 15, you’ll see a full proposal for a hybrid theatre. It will show second-run films, so the budget won’t be terribly high, it will provide employment opportunities for citizens, and if we build it right it can double as a live performance space for plays and concerts.” 

“I… hmmm…” Lewis nodded as he looked at the charts and neatly aligned bullet points. “And where does Mr.  Breckenridge  factor into this? Have you developed a sudden interest in economic development?” he asked Sebastian across the table. Sebastian cocked an eyebrow in response.

“No, Sebastian is proposing a website to market the town and our amenities here, and to advertise our special events. Sebastian?” she gestured for him to take over the presentation. They sat in silence. Lewis shifted uncomfortably.  


“I am very interested in hearing this proposal, young man. Unless you aren’t prepared to deliver?”

He looked like a cat wall clock, looking silently between Lewis and Nora, mouthing what he was sure were words, or at least the beginnings of them. 

“If you look at section 3, page 22, you’ll see Sebastian’s outline for the website.” Nora chimed in. “It’s a bit utilitarian to begin with, but there are options to add features down the line. Sebastian has included functionalities for people to plan their visits and build a sort of package - we could automate purchasing with enough buy-in from local vendors, but that’s down the line. The important thing is getting it up and running before spring, to build and connect any social media platforms, to draft quick policies to ensure smooth conduct of service delivery, and get marketing the … what’s it called? The Flower Dance?”

Sebastian deflated slightly as she spoke.

“Yes, yes, the Flower Dance…” Lewis mused over his package, pouring over the sleek mock-up that Sebastian had produced. “Sebastian, I have to say, this is very thorough. I am quite impressed.” he lowered the package. “Young man, I know that I’ve been hard on you in the past… There are times when I still think of you as that boy who used to toilet paper my house and steal my garden decorations. I see now that you are a mature, thoughtful man - who runs his own business even, and has the good civic spirit to develop a project like this. I apologize if I have been somewhat cold with you in recent years.”

Sebastian sat still, unsure of what to say or do. His fair complexion tinged with a rise of colour and he noticed a terrible tension in his jaw. He looked at Nora for a prompt, but Lewis continued.

“I think that this is very well thought out. I’ll have to go over the details of your contract, but I’d say you’re hired young man. And Nora, whatever it is that you have planned for that old eyesore of a warehouse, you are more than welcome to it. We’ll just ah, we’ll keep it our little secret for now, hmmm? Let it be a surprise for the rest of the folks in town.”

“Of course, sir!” Nora beamed. “Now, if we can talk about future planning here…”

Sebastian slunked down in his seat silently, watching the woman at work.

\---

“That went SO well! Ugh, I’m so glad that he liked the ideas. Don’t you think that went well?”

“Mmhmm…”

“I’m actually excited. I can’t remember the last time I was excited for a project, but I’m really looking forward to this.”

“Yeah.”

“The farm work in the winter is pretty sparse, it will be nice to have something to keep me occupied after the two hours of work I have every morning. And the compensation package isn’t bad, right? That was a fairly generous contract - for you especially. I was kinda figuring we’d do it pro-bono, but getting paid too, that’s just icing on the cake.”

“Yup.”

Nora slowed her pace as they approached the mountain steps.

“Hey… are you ok?” 

“Yeah.”

“Just… you seem kinda quiet.”

“I’m always quiet.”

“No, I mean… you seem a little… curt?”

“Do I?”

“Are you upset?”

Sebastian shrugged and walked ahead, looking towards the pathway. Nora stepped pace to keep up with him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, tell me what’s going on. I thought you’d be glad.”

“Glad.”

“Yeah, our project got picked up! Isn’t that something that would make you glad?”

“ _Your_ project.”

“What?”

“It’s your project. You did the outline, the map, this - this, project proposal” he gestured to the document in his hand. “I just got praised for your work. Doesn’t that bother you?”

“Not really... I’ve experienced worse, why?”

“It bothers me!”  


“Why?” Nora blinked.  


“Because! Because… that... asshole, he's always hated me. When I was a teen, he only ever saw me as an anti-social troublemaker, and you know what? I figured if that’s what people saw me as, that’s what I’d be. He thought I was a hellraiser? Well hell yes, I’d toilet paper his house and steal his stupid garden gnome, I was a kid - but that was 20 years ago! I’m 34 years old and the guy who’s been giving me a hard time my whole life, who made me feel like a delinquent, he JUST changes his opinion about me because of work that YOU did, and I’m pissed off because I’m a successful person! I’m smart, I’ve done dozens of projects like this. I could’ve done up the specs for this! But in there I felt like the dumb kid in shool who got lucky and paired up with the class genius for the group project, and you came in with your - fucking… glossy 12lb cardstock covers-” he shook the proposal in his fist again, “and I just stood there nodding like an idiot!”

“... you could’ve read the binder… I sent you the draft proposal yesterday.”

“I did read the binder! And the proposal! I put together the mock-up! And I still completely froze up in there because to that guy I’ll never be anything except the emo kid with spiky hair who steals his fucking-” he reached into his backpack and took out a small stone garden gnome.  


“Oh Sebastian…” 

“Just… I don’t know. I’m tired. I didn’t sleep last night, I got up at 9 fucking 30 this morning to be  _ there _ for  _ that  _ with  _ you _ .”

They stood silently on the snowy path.

“I’m going to go.” Nora said softly. “Let me know if you need anything. For the site, I mean.”

Sebastian huffed slightly, dropping his shoulders in defeat and grabbing a smoke. He balanced it in his mouth as he patted his pockets for his lighter. Nora reached up and seized the cigarette from his mouth, snapping it between her fingers. He held up his hands in a “what the fuck” gesture; she dropped the broken pieces into his open palms.

“You should quit. You’ll be dead by 50 if you keep it up.”

“Fuck you.”

“Fuck you too. Tell your mom I say hi.”

Nora turned and descended the mountain stair - even though it was the longer route home by that point. He watched her leave as he pulled out another cigarette and lit it with defiance.

|- - -|

Sebastian stomped towards his house, stubbing his cigarette and slamming the door behind him as he entered.

“Seb? Sebby, is that you?”

“No.”

Robin caught him before he retreated to his room, her mobile phone muffled against her shoulder. He dropped his backpack by the door and kicked off his boots.  


“Hey now... What’s up, button?” 

“Don’t call me that.”

“What, a mother can’t call her own son by his-”

“Just leave me alone.” He turned his back to go descend to his room. “Nora says hi.” He didn’t slam his bedroom door, but Robin heard the click of the lock and an unceremonious ‘flump’ onto his bed. Inside his backpack she clearly saw the top of a gnome's hat.  


“God, It’s like 2004 all over again in here…” she raised her cell phone back up to her ear. “Sorry about that sweets, what day did you say you’ll be back? No, no, he’s just… I think he’s moping over a girl. It’s nothing to do with you, love, I didn’t even get to tell him you’re coming home. I’ll tell him at lunch, a bowl of his mom’s special pumpkin soup should put him in a better mood.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the song that would've played on Lewis' alarm clock: https://youtu.be/09ZSKE38lTU  
> And Sebastian's terrible, horrible alarm: https://youtu.be/0_HQAMrmhZY
> 
> I’m playing around a bit with narrative a bit. I really wanted to make the scene at Lewis’ a chaotic imposition. And I have this image in my head of a person living up to the horrible things that people think about them - that if people hold bad opinions of a person it almost gives them permission to BE that person. That's a hard place to lift yourself out of. 
> 
> I’m reminded of a quote by Isaac Asimov that Sebastian would do well to remember - “never think that you're not good enough yourself. A man should never think that. My belief is that in life people will take you at your own reckoning.” That said, he’s been through some stuff. It’s impacted his life, and though he tells himself he’s satisfied it’s pretty clear that some bitterness remains.
> 
> Also: this chapter has - I think - the third or fourth mention of a secret mundane superpower that Nora has. Has anyone caught on to what it is? *eyebrow wiggle*
> 
> Quick housekeeping note: There won't be a post next week, I'm on vacation! I'm not going anywhere because global pandemic but have decided to take a real honest-to-goodness break, so although I may get some new stuff written I'm not going to stress about editing and posting until after I'm 'back'. But once I am 'back' the next chapter is ready to roll, with 3 more on deck! Thank you for the comments and kudos, they fill my heart with joy!  
> Take care until next time, m'dears.


	14. CTRL + H

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora does some reconnaissance for the bundles and learns more about her neighbours.

The icy morning wind cut through Nora’s scarf, leaving her eyes and nose with a burning sensation. At least the wind would be at her back on the return walk to the farm. 

In her pack she brought with her a prismatic shard, a bottle of wine, and the ancient fruit she had been holding onto. The warehouse looked even spookier than it did just weeks ago, standing in the dim of winter, snowy drifts blowing around the abandoned site, curling into and out of the broken structure. Nora pried the door open, seeing her tiny marshmallow friend hop away as she entered. 

“It’s just me.” she called. “I brought some things.” 

She put the items at the centre of the room by the book, using a pen she had brought with her to check off the items in the book. Of the remaining items, she thought that caviar and the void salmon would be the easiest to source. She didn’t know the first thing about fishing, or fish farming, or handling fish, or even what kind of fish she would need… but it still seemed easier to handle than sourcing a dinosaur egg. She checked her watch; by the time she got down to the beach, Willy’s shop should be open, and he should have the answers to her caviar questions. 

The void salmon would have to wait.

She thought of going on her own. There wasn’t really anyone who could go with her. Sebastian hadn’t been in contact at all since the morning of their pitch, and she didn’t reach out either. She did see progress being made on their site project; Nora was supplying the copy and coordinating things like photos and logos with Haley and Lewis, and Sebastian was on-schedule with the architecture and functionality of the site, and even started work on a booking app. Things were running smoothly, each working on their respective piece on their own. 

She cursed to herself wishing that the Stardrop was open earlier in the morning. A quick stop in for a muffin and a cup of tea would have been just the thing this early in the day, if for no other reason than to warm up a bit and have a nice hot cup to wrap her hands around while she finished her journey south. 

Nora walked across the frozen sand and up the docks towards Willy’s shop. Inside, the old salt gave her detailed instructions: 

“Ye’ll need a sturgeon for a good roe, and as luck should have it they’re in season. Up the mountain in that big lake there. They’re a tough catch, though, you’ll want a good rod and a good spinner to reel ‘em in.”

“How do I get the roe, though?”

“Ye’ll need to farm ‘em. Put the fish int’ a pond or the like - Ms. Robin up the carpenter shop can set one up for ye. Ye’ve got lots o’ room on that farm, haven’t ye?”

“Plenty of room.” Nora jotted onto her notepad. “So, build fish pond, catch sturgeon, sturgeon into pond, get roe… then what?”

“You put that roe in yer preserves jars, ye’ll have caviar in no time.”

She thanked Willy and bought the top-quality fishing rod and a barbed hook for good measure.

“Ye’ll catch ‘em any time sun-up to sun-down, mostly. Good luck missy! Come by any time!”

* * *

Walking the dock back to shore, Nora remembered that Robin wouldn’t be in the shop today - it was activity day at Caroline’s and all the women in town (except her) would be exercising. She reviewed her notebook and worked out the timeline in her head - however long it took Robin to build the pond, then however long it took to catch a sturgeon… then however long it took for a sturgeon to make roe… then however long it took the roe to turn into caviar.

“Ugh… it might be easier to just find a fucking dinosaur…” she mumbled to herself.

“What was that, my dear?”

Her head shot up, seeing Elliott on the bridge overlooking the river.

“Oh! Hi Elliott, good morning. I, uh… I’m looking into making caviar. It’s just, it’s going to be a much longer process than I anticipated.”

“Caviar! Wonderful, quite the delicacy. Indeed, I believe it’s been years since I’ve had any. Sadly, Pierre’s does not keep it in stock, nor have I ever seen it offered at the Stardrop.”

“Yes, I didn’t get the idea that anyone here was crazy about it.”

“Well, once you’ve begun production I shall be your very first customer. How does the morning find you, Ms. Sherwood? Well, I hope?”

“Quite well, thank you. And you?”

“Also quite well! Although I did sadly find myself without coffee beans this morning. I shall be waiting for the Stardrop to open with baited breath!”

“Well that won’t do.” Nora shook her head. “Why don’t you come by the farm, I can brew you up a cup. And you can have a bag of beans, my gift to you.”

Elliott beamed and walked alongside her as she started home. 

“You are far too kind. I see the same fire of selflessness and generosity and gratitude in you that I saw in Kate all those years ago.” 

Nora tutted to herself. 

“I’m not all that great. Kate was a superhero, I’m just doing my best.”

“Your best? My dear, already you have given so much to the community - you keep Pierre’s stocked with the literal fruits of your labour” he gestured to the shop as they passed. “You participate in our celebrations, and I am aware of all of the gifts you have been giving to the townsfolk, present company included.” he gestured to a duck feather quill he had tucked into the front pocket of his overcoat. 

“It’s nothing.” squinted looking sidelong at her companion. “Honestly, being winter it gets a little… boring out there. I take care of the animals, I do my preserves and cheeses and things, and that’s it for the day. I’m still adjusting.”

“Boring! If I remember the last farmer correctly, by spring you’ll be pining for these slower, more contemplative days.”

“I’m sure you’re right.”

Her companion smiled and offered his arm to Nora as they encountered the rougher terrain of the unpaved walkway that joined the town to Lerwick Farm. She took it and the two carefully ambled over the uneven and slightly icy terrain. 

* * *

“Ok… Odyssey Temptress, 5 letters.”

“Circe. Nora my dear, that clue was a mere stroll through the park! Give me a challenge, girl!”

“Very well… Manna, according to holy scriptures, 9 letters.”

“Why, manna is food for the angels! Angel food, does that fit?”

“F-o-o-d. It fits!”

The two smiled and clinked cups at their success. They sat at her breakfast bar, plates from lunch stacked ready for the sink, a charcuterie tray at-hand, and an omnibus of particularly challenging crosswords between them. Nora hooked the pen onto the booklet and passed it across the breakfast bar to Elliott, who picked it up and found a promising clue.

“Alright my dear, ‘it means nothing in French’.”

“C’est facile, ‘rien’. R-I-E-N.”

“A perfect fit.” he took a sip of his third coffee and looked over the clue list, distracted by a sudden knock at the door. 

“Hmm, I wasn’t expecting anyone.” Nora said as she rose, she checked through the window to the front porch. “Ah! It’s Marnie and Leah. I hope you don’t mind more company.” she called to Elliott, opening the door.

The cheery, pink-tinged faces smiled at her and thanked her as she held the door open for them, gesturing to enter. 

“I hope you don’t mind, we were on our way back from cardio and thought we’d poke our heads in!”

“I’ve got hot water on for coffee and tea if you’d like any.” she said as the ladies removed their snowy gear.

“I wouldn’t turn down a cup of tea!” Marnie called. “Hello Elliott! Nice to see you, how is the writing going?”

“Good afternoon ladies. I regret that I’ve suffered a bout of writer's block of late. Surely nothing that a brisk walk and some good company cannot alleviate.”

The ladies settled into the breakfast bar as Nora busied herself filling the teapot and retrieving a set of pottery mugs for her friends. Elliott checked the time on his pocket watch and jumped a bit at the realization.

“Actually, I do recall that I have a bit of research to conduct before the library closes, if you will excuse me, with my sincerest apologies. I will leave you ladies to chat.”

“Elliott, you don’t have to go.” Nora said, collecting the milk and sugar. “I’m sure Marnie and Leah don’t mind.” the ladies nodded in agreement, encouraging him to stay.

“Many thanks to you all, but I do need to complete this research if I am ever to continue on with my latest novel. But my sincere gratitude to you for your hospitality Nora. I invite you to visit me at my cottage any time so that I may return the courtesy. Ladies, please enjoy this bright, if brisk, afternoon. Adieu.”

Nora set down the milk and sugar and smiled after her friend as he made his exit.

“Oh that poor man…” Marnie sighed, seeing the figure descending the porch stair, well out of earshot. “It must be so hard for him to be here.”

“Hard? Why?” Nora sat, putting the crossword book aside for another day.

“You don’t know?” Leah questioned, a look of pity on her kind face.

“Know? No, what don’t I know?”

The two women exchanged glances. Nora knew that look. Her stepmom got that look when she was at apres-ski or the tennis clubhouse with Bitsy and the other hens. That was the look that preceded gossip, and Nora was torn. She never liked idle opinion or discussing people in their absence, but on the other hand she wanted to know more about these people - her new friends - so that she wouldn’t offend or upset anyone to the best of her ability. Favouring the option that would keep her from future awkward social interactions, she repeated.

“What don’t I know?” 

“She doesn’t know.” Leah said to Marnie. Marnie sighed.

“Elliott and Kate… they were quite close. Good friends, excellent friends! I mean, she was a good friend to everyone, but those two… she was his muse, I think. And more.”

“I’ve never seen him like he was with her.” Leah shook her head. “I knew him back in the city, we went to the same art school ages ago. He had lady friends back then, he was an attentive beau I think, but with Kate he was completely enamoured.”

“She was the one who inspired his first big hit novel. She would stop by his place to give him the catch of the day anytime she got a spare lobster… made him his favourite soup the odd time, always gave him the most beautiful feathers from her ducks… the thought that she’d put into it, the time they’d spend together on their own in that shack...” 

“And he wrote, gosh… the poems he would write. He showed me once, the words just flowed. You could feel his admiration, the passion he had for her…”

“We all thought…” Marnie started but faltered. “I don’t know when… I know she was there when Shane… when he…” she struggled to find the words. Nora reached a tentative hand across the table to grasp the palm of the woman. “Shane had to go to the hospital, and she was the one who took him. He came back a changed man. I don’t know when it was that the two of them, well… found one another, so to say, when they got together. “

“Elliott was devastated. We didn’t see him for weeks.”

“It was so fast, too. One moment she’s in my kitchen talking Shane out of harming himself, the next she’s taking him to the hospital and he’s seeking treatment… then all of a sudden they’re serious, he’s spending time at her house, she’s expanding the farm to make room for his chickens, next thing you know they’re in the Stardrop announcing their engagement.”

“I stopped in to check on Elliott and bring him some food and things. He knew. I think she must have told him. He looked awful, hadn’t shaven, the whole shack was a mess and smelled of stale wine. I was so worried about him.”

“A few weeks after the wedding, a hurricane blows through and wouldn’t you know it, Elliott’s shack is the only building destroyed. As if the poor man hadn’t been through enough.”

“He stayed at my studio for a little bit,” Leah sighed again. “He barely got out of bed but never really slept either. He was talking about moving back to the city. But Kate did what Kate does and rallied Robin and Clint to get together and built a brand new cottage right there on the beach. Dug down to put in proper foundations, made it bigger and sturdier, safer.”

“Now I want to make it clear, I love Katie.” Marnie sniffed. “Love her to bits and pieces. I’m grateful for her every day, that she saw something in my nephew that nobody else saw, that she loved him and helped him - I don't know where he would be without her, I don’t want to…” she braced herself. “I can’t think about that. But I don’t love what she did to that poor sensitive man.”

“But after that…” Leah chirped in “after he moved into that new cottage, we didn’t see him for days. I went to go drop off some supplies for him and check on him - that he was even still alive, I was so worried about him - and there he was, stacks and stacks and stacks of paper,a basket of empty ink bottles and inky rags, fingers stained black and blue with the stuff. He finished a novel. The whole thing, in just over a week. He wrote three novels and two books of poetry in six months, he got signed by a publisher, went on tour, I don’t know how many copies he sold of his last work, but it got coverage in the ZCT and everything.”

Nora sat, shocked. 

“He never said anything.”

“Oh he wouldn’t. You won’t hear a single bad word about Kate from his lips, even though she hurt him something awful.” Marnie shook her head.

“He’s a gentleman.” Leah said softly. “He would never drag a lady’s name or reputation through the mud, no matter how hurt he was.”

“It worked out for him in the end, I suppose, but I still can’t imagine it would have been easy for him to come here after all that.”

“It worked out for his writing, but he’s still terribly lonesome.” Leah added. “I get down to visit him sometimes when Em is working late. He puts up a front, but I see the empty wine bottles... It doesn’t suit him.” 

Nora glanced down at her crossword book. He had written the date next to the title in a flourishing script. She felt pity and guilt brewing in her heart - pity for her new friend who had suffered much, and guilt that she hadn’t known before inviting him over. The thing to do, it occurred to her, was to institute an abrupt change of subject.

“I’m glad that you told me.” she gave Marnie’s hand another quick squeeze. “I was thinking of making some cookies to share. Would you ladies like to give me a hand?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title is a keyboard shortcut to access your web history from a browser. History, it's about history! But dorkified.
> 
> The crossword clues that I used are from an actual crossword! It is the New York Times Sunday crossword “Baker’s Dozen” from November 6, 2011 by Elizabeth C. Gorski and edited by Will Shortz. (I’m citing my source like a good academic.) 
> 
> ZCT is the Zuzu City Times - it was mentioned in an earlier chapter too, thought I’d mention.
> 
> I also decided to adopt reverse-Futurama rules and made the executive decision to establish that the French language exists within this universe. Voila. (Partly JUST to accommodate that crossword clue, and that Nora parles a peut of Francais.) 
> 
> Keep safe, be well <3


	15. Parallel Process

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Winter settles in; it's less busy, it's quiet. For some this means solitude, and for others isolation.

“Turn your head to the right, please, I’m just going to check in your ears.”

Nora turned her head to one side, then the other.

“Open wide, and ‘ahhhh’ please.”

“Aaahhhhhhhhh”

“Fantastic. Just a quick BP and you’re ready to go Ms. Sherwood.” Harvey shuffled about his instruments retrieving the blood pressure cuff. “You’ll have to excuse me, we have the old fashioned ones here so I’ll have to pump it quite tight and use my stethoscope.”

“Sure. Whatever works, doctor.”

They sat in silence, save for the ‘pffft pah pffft pah pfffft pah’ of the bulb as the cuff tightened around her bicep.

“Just stay nice and still, nice even breaths for me.”

Nora looked around the room thinking of pleasant things: flowers, hot tea on a rainy day, ice cream, wind in the trees… anything except the various stressors that had somehow snuck into her life and would surely spike her typically-acceptable blood pressure results.

“Relax your jaw, Ms. Sherwood. Deep breaths, keep still.”

“Sorry.”

The cuff squeezed tightly around her arm, a numb tingly feeling starting in her fingertips. She kept her deep, calming breaths and thinking of the calm blue ocean, calm blue ocean, calm blue ocean.

Pbtssssssssssssss - the cuff deflated.

“It’s a smidge on the high side of normal, but not unacceptable for a woman your age. How would you say you manage stress?”

“... I get lots of practice?” she got a courtesy chuckle from the doctor.

“Well, we’ll wait for the blood test results, but pending that I’d say you’re fit as a fiddle!” he discarded his protective gloves and updated her chart quickly.

“Thank you doctor. It’s been a while since my last checkup, I’m glad you had time for me today.”

“Oh no, thank you for coming in! As you can imagine, there’s not an awful lot to keep me busy around here these days - there are fewer people here now than there were when I moved here 15 years ago, and if you’d told me that then I’d scarcely believe it - that there could be fewer people living here, that is!”

“There were more people living on my floor in Zuzu than there are in this entire town.”

“It’s quaint, that’s to be sure. It’s a fine enough place for an introvert like me, but ah - of course, I could stand to have more patients.”

“It’s stagnant.”

“I’m sure it’s not all that bad!” Harvey laughed.

“Population is trending down. I mean - not to be a downer, but three people left just as I moved in and that was like 15% of the population.”

“I suppose more people have moved out than in… Which is a shame, it’s very peaceful here.”

“It’s a nice place! There’s just no place to live, all the houses are taken.”

“Now that is very true. I had to convert the upstairs here to an apartment - the previous doctor lived on River Road, but that house is long gone now.”

Nora slipped on her cardigan and tucked her notebook into her purse, having taken all the necessary notes from the appointment.

“It’s hard to make friends out here, have you noticed that?” she asked.

“Hmm? Oh, I suppose it is… I mostly keep to myself!” he laughed. “But yes, it’s hard - if you don’t share any hobbies or interests with anyone here, it does make for a… I guess, a lonely experience from time to time.”

“I’ve been here over a month and I still feel like the odd shoe.”

“You’ll fit in eventually. Just you wait. Even if you’re like me and keep to yourself and don’t have anything in common with anyone here and spend most of your time doing your own thing, you’ll still find your spot.” he gave her a clap on the shoulder. “Oh! And thank you so much for the coffee - I live off of the stuff and hadn’t made any this morning, it’s like you read my mind!”

She rose to leave, gathering her things.

“Please feel free to drop by anytime, Dr. Callahan. I’m getting used to the ‘open door’ visits. You’d be very welcome company.”

Outside the clinic waiting room, the village was powdered in snow with more falling in little veils pushed by squalls coming in off the ocean. She hadn’t far to go - just over to Evelyn’s for a check-in. She passed Pam along the way, who was smoking as she walked towards the bus stop - she had put a festive pom pom of silver tinsel in her hair in preparation for the holiday season. She gave Nora a nod as she passed.

“Ready for the holidays, kid?”

“Getting there! And you?”

“Oh yeah, tree’s plugged in, fridge full of ale, and a little turkey in the freezer in case my girl comes home this year.” she cheersed Nora with her lipstick-stained cigarette as she passed. “Have a good one.”

Nora knocked on Evelyn’s door and wandered in. The paper was still on the doorstep. Alex and Hailey must not have seen it on their way out that morning. Nora picked it up and headed inside.

“Evelyn? I’ve got your paper, and a little something from the farm.” she left a jar of jam on the table in the kitchen.

“I’ll be right out dear!” a voice called from the bedroom. “Just putting away the laundry.”

“I could’ve done that for you, I told you I was coming today.”

“Nonsense, dear!” the voice called. “I’ve got to keep busy, and I’ll do these things for myself as long as I can. Not an easy task with Alexander and Hailey fussing over me all the time…”

“You’re a firecracker, Evelyn.”

“I don’t mind the help, really.” Evelyn entered the main room, plunking down a basket full of linens for the wash. “But I miss having people to talk to during the day. Since George passed, it does get awfully lonely around here. Grateful for your visits though, dearie! I wish there were ten more just like you.” she grabbed Nora’s hand and gave it a vigorous shake.

“Is Alex bringing some things back from the store for you today, or did you want me to dash over for anything for you?”

“Nothing today dear. The kettle is already boiled, you must need a nice cup of tea to warm up.”

The television was on in the background, blaring a channel with non-stop gameshows. Most days, this was the company that Evelyn could expect while Hailey and Alex worked, kept active, and ran errands around town. Excepting the odd house call from the Doctor, Evelyn spent days on her own. A few crafts decorated the house - macrame was back in fashion, and Evelyn was a seasoned pro. A basket full of acrylic yarn sat beside Evelyn’s recliner with a crochet hook sticking out of it, the form of an afghan taking shape week by week. A few frames with pressed flowers in intricate designs hung upon the far wall, most of the blooms grown by the woman herself.

“Here we are, dear, a good hot cup of tea.” Evelyn took a seat at the table, joined by Nora, who added a splash of milk to her cup. “So! Holidays right around the corner.”

“Yes! I’ve been told you get pretty busy with baking treats for everyone.”

“Of course dear! Nobody will be wanting for desserts. You’ll have sweets through til spring.” Evelyn passed a small plate of berry strudel towards Nora, who took a small slice. “Will you be going to the city to see family for the holiday?”

“I’m not sure, I hadn’t really thought about it yet.”

“You haven’t made plans with your family?”

“It’s been a while since we chatted. They’re busy, I’ve been busy… you know how it is.”

“Dearie, I definitely know how it is.” Evelyn stirred her tea. “You should give them a call, I’m sure they miss hearing your lovely voice.”

The ladies finished the entire pot tea and even put a good dent into a second. Evelyn packed up a plate of take-home treats, and Nora prepared to leave after making double-sure that Evelyn didn’t have any tasks she needed help with or errands that needed running.

As she walked the cobblestone pathways she saw Harvey once more, taking a coffee break on the bench. She caught a rare glimpse of Clint, shoulders hunched and collar pulled up against the cold, waiting outside the Stardrop to pick up a bit of lunch. He looked away as Emily and Leah approached hand-in-hand, Leah joining her wife for the walk to work before giving her a quick peck and a wave goodbye. Emily quickly unlocked the door and held it open for Clint, who appeared grateful to be in and out of the cold.

She crossed by the bus stop, giving another wave to Pam who stood by the vehicle smoking another cigarette and playing Sugar Rush on her phone. The set of footsteps in the snow leading away from the stop showed Nora that at least Pam had gotten a bit of business and hadn’t been standing there all day.

“How do you manage being out there in the cold all day?” Nora called as she passed.

“Menopause!” Pam called back.

“Text me if you need something warm to drink or eat, okay?”

“You got it, kid!”

Nora felt an awful tugging behind her heart as she entered the darkened, quiet house. Pam’s comment about ‘if my girl comes home this year’ made her feel terribly guilty about not keeping in better contact with her family. They would like it there, in the valley. Rob had only really seen her farm, but her dad and step mom hadn’t been by yet at all.

She popped on her kettle for another cup of tea and dug out her phone, scrolling through her contacts to find her dad’s card. She tapped ‘call’ and put the phone on speaker.

“Hey there pumpkin! It’s been a while, how are things at the ol’ homestead?”

“Pretty good. It’s just animal care, cheese and preserves, and the greenhouse over the winter.”

“And yet you still don’t have time to call your dear old dad.”

“I know… I’m sorry. I’m calling now.”

“Well, I’m happy to hear from you. Any big plans for the holidays? Think you’ll make it into the city for a bit? We changed the guest bedroom into a home-gym-slash-pottery-studio, but you’re welcome on the pullout if you want to stay here.”

“Actually… I was wondering if you and Marion wanted to come here for the holiday. You’d have your own space, there’s a whole cabin on the property that’s waiting to be broken in. It’s got its own little fireplace, a tv, sitting area, dinette, it’s basically a hotel room.”

“Oh! Hang on a second... “ he sounded further away, “Hon! C’mere, Nora has a question for us.”

“Oh it’s Nora!” a woman’s voice came over the phone. “Nora, is that you?”

“Hi Marion. How are you?”

“Did your dad tell you about the business opportunity?”

“No, Mar… Nora wants to know if we want to stay in her cabin for the holidays. Go for Winter Star to the farm.”

“Oh! Yes, that would be wonderful! We are so looking forward to seeing the new house and the farm. We could come, let’s see here…” Nora heard the sound of paper flipping by the handset. “The week before Winter Star? If it doesn’t put you out too much, we could stay for a week or so?”

“You’ll run out of things to do, but sure. That sounds great.”

“Maybe see if your brother wants to come along.” her dad suggested.

“I can ask.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell her about the tip you got from Reynold! There’s a builder that’s put in a bid for some vacant space north of the city. They’d need to do some groundwork, but they’re looking at detached with garage and yard, custom-built - and they’re taking meetings. Reynold got your dad and I in! They’ll be finalized before the new year.”

“Oh wow! That is big news. Good luck, you guys.”

“This could be the one.” her dad said. “Mar and I could get to retiring, get a little place on the ocean, maybe procure some objets d’arts… It would be a Winter Star miracle!”

* * *

This website was getting the royal treatment. Without any other projects in his queue, Sebastian was spending an inordinate amount of time tweaking, adding features, and perfecting the architecture of a site that might see tens of views each month. He grumbled as he worked on finding unique and interactive ways to integrate the photos that Hailey had uploaded to the cloud drive: shots from last year’s luau and the beach at the height of summer, a sparkling sunset over the bay, and fireflies in the forest floating around a fallen log.

Even the majesty of the photos did nothing to improve his mood, and he sulked and tutted as he dragged and clicked and typed.

The creak of someone descending the staircase snapped his attention up from his screen - only then had he realized that it was after 2pm and he had been at the computer for several hours without a break. There was a brisk knock at the door before it blew open, sending him up and to his feet.

“There he is!” he heard before a blur of purple and blue streaked towards him and pulled him into a tight hug.

“Fu… Maru, do you fucking mind?”

“Now there’s a warm reception. Is that any way to greet your favourite sister? I brought you treats.” Maru held out a bag, which Sebastian snatched before seating himself again. “There’s chocolate and strawberry cookie sticks and nori from that store that you like, some tea, and a metric fuck-ton of candy.”

“Thanks kid.” he sniffed at the jasmine tea through the packaging. “Smells good.” He placed the package on the corner of his desk and started back to work.

“Busy?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Mom says you’re working on a project with the new farmer? Something for the valley?”

“Mmhmm.”

“That’s really cool Seb. Seriously. This place could afford to be dragged into the digital age.” Maru fidgeted under the uncomfortable silence, the steady click of keystrokes ticking like a machine. “I noticed that you’ve cleaned up down here. It looks good.”

“Thanks.”

The basement did look very different than it had when they were younger. He had updated the furniture to look less like a dorm room, and had talked his mum into adding an ensuite ages ago. His posters were now tastefully mounted onto coroplast or acrylic or behind a frame, and his collections of things were organized on neat themed wall shelves: medieval-style for the tabletop and fantasy figures, space for the sci-fi stuff, and a clear glass for a small collection of minerals that he had found in the lake bed.

“Not feeling very chatty?”

“Am I ever chatty? I’m working.”

“You’re working on a website that you could’ve done in your sleep 10 years ago. We can chat at the same time.”

Sebastian grumbled and hit the backspace key with a scowl.

“Mom says you’re kinda hung up over some girl.” Sebastian glared at his sister, the keyboard silent. “It’s not Abigail again, is it?”

“Ugh. No.”

“Well who is it then?!?” Maru chuckled, Sebastian a scarlet tinge rising in his ears and across his cheeks, making his fair complexion look splotchy.

“Nobody.”

“Nobody? I haven’t seen you this cranky since before I left for undergrad!”

Sebastian scowled and returned to his work.

“Fine then, Sebby. You wanna be cranky, be cranky. Imma just hang out here reading my medical journals and making polite conversation.”

“Ugh!!!”

Maru grinned as she sunk into the comfy chair-and-a-half in the corner, pulling a sizeable volume from her book bag and cracking it open in her lap. She hummed innocently as she read.

“Hey - this is cool,” she shouted, “they’re looking at lower serotonin levels in the brain as indicators of early cognitive decline.”

“Oh my god…” Sebastian slumped in his seat.

“Ooooh, substitute neurotransmitters could be used in preventative therapies! This is ground-breaking! Super interesting. You should read this, it’s just… wow. They’re really making strides in the field of neurodegenerative disorders...”

“Why are you doing this?”

“What? Research?”

“Why are you in my chair, in my room, trying to talk to me.”

Maru folded the journal in her lap and looked earnestly at Sebastian.

“Because I’ve missed you.”

Sebastian let out a sigh and stood up. He ran a hand through his hair before opening his arms and gesturing to her. Maru hopped up and ran into him, giving a mighty squeeze around his middle. Sebastian gave a three-quarters-hearted (which is at least a bit more than half-hearted) pat on the back before trying to extricate himself from the embrace.

“Come on, now. That’s enough.”

“You come on!” Maru released her death grip and gave him a tiny shove. “Take a break. Spend some time with your favourite sister.” she flipped on the TV and grabbed the two wireless controllers that sat atop the gaming console. Sebastian begrudgingly joined.

“I maintain that you absorbed my favourite sister in utero.” the two sat on the big comfy couch as the gaming system fired up and the menu of a classic two-player combat appeared.

“Which means I’m technically still your favourite sister. Weirdo.”

"You're the weirdo." 

"Yeah, well I'm about to kick your ass at Rekkem. So there."

"I'm not gonna go easy on you." He chomped on a chocolate cookie stick and offered her the box.

"You never did." Maru gave her brother a little shove, taking two sticks for herself.

"And I never will."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Winter Star approaches! These were a few vignettes of the townsfolk as they've evolved since canon - and in some cases how they haven't. Some gentle set-up for things to come, and who doesn't love Maru?! I really liked imagining how the relationship matured as they grew, and was allowed to develop even more after she left. I imagine it as one part open communication, one part acknowledgement of unfair parenting in a blended family environment, and one part "I can't miss you if you don't leave", which I think fits Seb to a T.
> 
> It's busy season at work so it might be a few weeks before I get another update ready, but good things are coming!  
> And thank you as always to the readers; you guys brighten my day! It means so much that you are enjoying the story, and I appreciate your comments and kudos always. Take care out there.


	16. Truth Tables

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora hits the spa after a rough go at the mines and things get real.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas, nerds. My gift to you is a chapter. Just one though, since the subsequent chapter must (I repeat MUST!) be smutty, and it turns out I suck at writing smut. I am trying, my friends! If you have any pointers, feel free to leave me a note - I am truly out of my depth here. But I will try! And I hope to have a new chapter or two ready to go in the new year - there's still lots of story to tell.

Chapter 16 - Truth Tables

It was only a matter of time before Nora ventured into the mines. In Kate’s journal that she left for Nora, she detailed all the wonderful minerals and resources she could find winding through the various levelled caverns. Nora followed Kate’s advice and brought a cutlass with her - a wit-sharp and aerodynamic weapon that easily sliced through the various insects and cave-dwelling creatures who attacked her on-sight. There was an elevator that went all the way down to the very bottom of the caves, and Nora took a step off on each one. Her favourite was the chilly, frozen strata, where she encountered bats, and what she suspected may have been ghosts.

With a backpack full of iron, gold, and various minerals and gems, she hopped back onto the elevator and rumbled up the shaft to the surface. It was early evening - nearly time for supper - but she was aching from swinging a pickaxe all day, as well as noticing how the cold was starting to affect her joints. Lousy aging...

There was plenty of time to visit the spa north of the caves and still be home in time to make a decent supper. With a groan, she hoisted her knapsack into the locker and pulled out a dry blue one-piece swimsuit and sunshine beach towel; she changed as quickly as she could, her muscles throbbing in protest as she did. Her feet made a pleasant padding sound on the ceramic floors, which she enjoyed thoroughly. 

The scent and humidity of the hot spa water surrounded her the moment she opened the doors, a relaxing sigh escaping from her before she even hit the water. She heard shuffling in water from the far end, putting her on-alert.

“Oh,” she muttered, seeing Sebastian wringing the water out of his hair and uprighting himself from the back-float position he had been in. “I can come back later…”

“No, it’s ok. I - holy shit, what happened to you?”

“Huh?” Nora looked down - in her haste, she completely missed the dirt and dust from the mines that had gotten through her jeans, and the scratches and fresh bruises from the various scuffles she’d had with belligerent slimes. 

“Oh…” 

“Come here.” he swam to the edge of the pool nearer to her. “What the hell happened?”

“I went to check out the mines.” she said as she eased into the water - the salt water burned her raw skin, but felt wonderful on her muscles. “It’s nothing, just defensive wounds.”

“Shit. Why would you do that?”

“I don’t know, I thought it would be a good way to get some more resources in case I need them… Kate’s journal said -”

“You don’t need to do that. If you need _resources_ there’s Pierre’s, we have a blacksmith, there are travelling vendors, I will personally take you to the city if you need. You don’t have to get yourself killed just to get fucking iron for a new watering can.”

“I have sprinklers, I’d barely need a watering can.”

“You know what I mean.”

Nora pursed her lips and glared.

“So we’re talking now, then.”

Sebastian sighed and lowered his head.

“Yeah.”

“Ok.”

They sat in silence, the dripping of the water and echo in the room the only sounds between them. Nora went back and thought about their last conversation, which turned into an argument, which turned into Sebastian not speaking to her until just this moment. It seemed as stupid to her then as it did now.

“I’m sorry.”

Nora looked up, but Sebastian hadn’t raised his head.

“What?” she asked.

“I’m sorry. For acting like a dumbass. I just… I don’t know. He…” he hesitated. “Did you ever have a person in your life who just, it was like their goal to ruin your day? Like they got off on making things unpleasant or being a scummy bastard?”

“My old boss.” Nora said. “Every time I saw his stupid face it made me want to push him out of a 20th story window.”

“Yeah?”

“He was slime.”

“Slime how? Lots of people hate their bosses.”

“This was something else… If something went right, he took all the credit. Something went wrong, it was all your fault.” She smiled a bit. “When I left, the project we had been working on completely halted, the client was furious - they didn’t know he had been screwing the whole thing up from the top down: purposely putting stuff in the plans he knew we didn’t need so we’d have to make changes part way through, which wastes effort but you get to charge fees for when the client changes their mind. He’d stretch out timelines to the absolute limit that clients would tolerate, then he’d send things over that he knew was to-spec but not best practice, and it would get sent back and we - my team, not him obviously - would have to change it.”

“Sounds like a shit boss. Shit human being, really.”

“Yes. He made the clients feel stupid, made us feel stupid, just gaslighting people left right and centre. Management knew about the complaints against him from staff, but his numbers were so good, they figured his methods were working. When I left, it was like someone ripped the veil off. They saw him for what he was - a con man. A sociopath. Bad for clients, bad for employees, bad for business. Just in it for himself.”

“Fuck. No wonder you left.”

“What I’m saying is, I get it.” she leaned back and wet her hair, even though it was freezing outside and she didn’t have a blow dryer. “It’s more than someone who just rubs you the wrong way, it’s like they go out of their way to make you feel small and stupid, or who seems to enjoy making your life difficult… I get it. I understand how it feels”

“Yeah…” Sebastian ran a hand through his damp hair. “Lewis… he was strict with us - my friend Sam and I - as kids. We couldn’t get away with anything. He used to drag me home, literally dragging me, by my collar, and my mom and stepdad - they’d just rail into me. They knew what I was doing wasn’t that bad - just kid stuff like putting a hot pepper into stew at a potluck or putting bingo dabber in our hair or, god forbid - riding our skateboards through the square. But Robin and Demetrius would see the mayor dragging their kid home - that makes it serious. He got me in so much shit for no reason…”

“He doesn’t have kids of his own, does he.”

“No he doesn’t. So naturally everyone else’s kids are heathens, because if _he_ had children, _his_ children would be well-behaved perfect little angels. The rest of us are just trash.” he sighed again in frustration. “After a few times of getting dragged home for nothing, Sam and I upped our game. TPed his house, stole his garden gnomes, skateboarded in the ‘No Skateboarding’ section when he was around on purpose…”

“You vandals.”

“Stole his underwear and flew it from the community centre tower.”

“Oh dear…” Nora laughed out loud, Sebastian smiled at the sound. “He couldn’t have been happy about that.”

“Well, it showed him how little we cared about his opinion. He ah, he didn’t like that. Said we must’ve broken into his house to steal them.”

“Did you?”

“No, we found them on the beach.”

“Ew.”

“Yeah. After that it was like living under a microscope. Anything we did that was even a bit out of the line, he came down on us. He showed up with cops because we were skateboarding in the square, and apparently he’d passed a bylaw prohibiting skateboards on public property.”

“OK. That just sucks.”

“Yeah. What really sucks is that he had me charged with mischief and I missed out on a scholarship because of it.”

“Ohhhh” Nora exhaled, wide-eyed. “There it is. That’s why.”

“Yeah.” Sebastian splashed some water away from him to feel it run through his fingers. “Fuck that guy.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? If you didn’t want to be around him we could’ve found another way.”

Sebastian shifted in the water and looked around.

“I don’t know… you were so excited about the whole project. I… I dunno…”

“What?” 

“I…” he rolled his head with a frustrated groan and faced the wall. “I wanted to not care. I wanted to show that I’m past it, I’m above that petty shit. I’ve moved on with my life. So much for that, I guess… I wanted to be there. I wanted to be there for you and to work on the project with you… I like you.”

He squinted his eyes, not wanting to see a look of pity or disgust on Nora’s face. He wiped some wet hands down his face, trying to find some way to feel refreshed.

“I know.” came a soft reply.

“Huh?” he spun to face her.

“I know you like me.” Nora said quietly. “You know I’m an expert with patterns and analysis, right?” She didn’t look disgusted or pitiful at all. “But even if I wasn’t -” 

“Yeah…” he said sheepishly.

“You’re not really subtle about it at all.”

“Here I thought I was being so cool…”

“Sebastian…” she began.

“It’s ok. Don’t, ah… just don’t worry about it. It’s not a big deal” He did his best to convince himself. He quickly changed the subject, ignoring the irregular thumping in his chest. “I figured my thing with Lewis was forever ago. I didn’t want to be the reason why we couldn’t move forward.”

“Sebastian, I can be the middle person. We did it all the time at my old job - keep the clients and the creators away from one another so it doesn’t impact the work. Everything gets filtered through a middle person who manages the relationship.”

“I wouldn’t want to do that. This is my job, Nora. I don’t have a person who manages the accounts, it’s just me and I do a good job.”

“I believe you. You are smart and capable and creative. That’s why I wanted to work with you. You’re organized chaos and I love it.”

“Oh yeah?” Sebastian failed to hide the pink tinge flushing his cheeks.

They floated in silence again, the heaviness of the air hanging around them in every sense.

“I can’t believe you stole his garden gnome.” Nora shook her head. Sebastian laughed.

“I put it back... old man probably didn’t even notice…” he muttered. “But I’m… sorry. For the whole thing. It was, ah… it was immature. 

“I know.” Nora shuffled through the water towards him. “I’m sorry too. I didn’t mean to put you into that position or to make you feel so small. You’re the pro here, I’m just the organizer.”

“And the researcher, and the project manager, and the editor, and-”

“And I’m sorry about that too.” she repeated. She swam closer to face him. “I am going to stop railroading things all the time. I pestered you into helping me at the witch’s hut, roped you into this whole ‘tourism initiative’ thing… and that’s not fair.”

Sebastian blushed a bit and shrugged.

“I don’t really mind… I actually kinda liked being dragged around.”

“I KNEW IT. You little...” she splashed him with a gargantuan wave and incredulous chuckle.

“Knew what?” he wiped the water off his face with a smirk.

“Knew that you were full of shit! That you like being pestered and begged into doing things.” she shoved another wave of water his way with an impish grin, the water smacking him in his face and wetting his hair. “Just, do me a favour… Don’t do that with me, ok? I like doing stuff with you, I like being around you. I don’t want to feel like I’m inconveniencing you by asking you to come along.”

“Okay, okay… ” he put up his hands in defense, anticipating more splashes. “I will show my enthusiasm freely. With you, at least.”

“Thank you.” she floated in place. “You don’t have to put on an act, you know. You’re cool enough as it is.”

“Oh?” he grinned. “I’m cool, am I?”

He began advancing on her, the water swooshing past him as he moved. She backed away, splashing even more water to deter him. He used his arm to create a wave that crashed over her, soaking her hair. 

“You’re a jerk, is what you are.” She sputtered with a laugh.

“Oh yeah. 100%.” 

He cornered her and grabbed her around her waist, lifting and tossing her as she shrieked, crashing into the water with another great “sploosh!” He laughed as she surfaced with a gasp.

“That’s payback with interest for the splashes. We’re even now.” 

She threw back her head, trying to peel the wet lengths of hair from her face and wipe the water from her eyes. Sebastian caught himself staring at the wet swimsuit hugging her curves, feeling obvious and adolescent but completely unable to help himself. 

“Hey! You two!!” a voice echoed through the spa. 

Nora and Sebastian turned to see Lewis at the entrance of the men’s dressing room, fully clothed, hands on hips, foot tapping in impatient disapproval. 

“This is a relaxation spa! Not a Mardi Gras Malibu spring break pool party!”

“Yes sir, won’t happen again.” Nora called out.

“Nerdlinger.” Sebastian murmured with a playful jab.

“Degenerate.” she murmured back.

“See to it that it doesn’t!” Lewis called out. “I would expect this kind of raucous behaviour out of him, but you, Nora?”

“I was just getting ready to get out anyways, sir.” she hollered.

“Aww, you’re no fun.” Sebastian pouted.

“I’ll be back in a half hour to close up. Perhaps you’ll be so good as to make sure that nothing gets destroyed in the meantime.” Lewis turned on his heel and left, tutting the whole way.

“Geeze, I feel like I’m 15 again.”

“See? That’s what he does.” Sebastian shrugged. “Kinda makes you want to turn to petty, vindictive crime doesn’t it?” he said with an eyebrow wiggle.

“It certainly does not. It makes me want to prove myself.”

“Ugh. You’re the worst.”

“I’m fantastic. And so are you. Don’t let him make you feel small, ok?” 

They floated again in silence, the necessary upcoming departure making the waters feel that much warmer. Nora shuddered at the thought of getting out and needing to go out into the chilly night and snow to get back to the farm. Her work would be waiting for her - content ready to be uploaded for the website. Which reminded her - 

“We should talk about the project more often. Like, I don’t know… have meetings or something.”

“That makes sense.” Sebastian glanced up at her through his wet hair, slicking it to the side again but it never stayed where it was supposed to. “It would be cool to just hang out too thought. Without the to-do list.” 

“That is also fair.” she glided towards him. “You free tonight?” 

“Yeah.” His breath hitched with her approach. 

“My place?” 

“Sure.”

"7?" She was so close he could feel the difference in temperature between her body and the waters between them.

"Yes." He breathed, eyes wide and heart pounding.

She gave a wry, shy smile and tucked her hair behind her ear. He desperately wanted to reach out then and grab her, hold her, kiss her, high five her, anything!

She put a dripping hand on his face, leaned forward and kissed his cheek. Sebastian closed his eyes, trying to memorize the feeling of her closeness, her warmth, the suddenness of the gesture, both chaste and electrically charged. She pulled away, wiping a stray droplet from his cheek as she withdrew.

“Video games? Movies?”

“Hmm? Wha.. yes. Yeah. Yes...”

“Would you grab a pizza from the Stardrop?”

“Yes.” he whispered.

He watched her retreating form glide away from him and towards the exit. She grabbed her multicoloured towel and disappeared into the women’s change room.

“Holy shit.” Sebastian said out loud, deciding that even though he was pruny and suddenly in a hurry to get moving, it would be best to wait another moment before exiting the waters himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love each other, take good care, be safe.  
> In case you need to hear it at this time of year, and this year especially: you matter, you are loved, there is no one else out there like you. You make the world a better place just by being in it. <3
> 
> Hope for better times in 2021, friends. Bless.


End file.
